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SOUTH JORDAN RESIDENT INVESTS IN WATER SURVIVAL SKILLS FOR CHILDREN By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com
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Alliesha Reber teaches her infant son water survival skills. She purchased the Marv Jensen Recreation Center and turned it into Aquatics Academy to help infants and toddlers avoid drowning accidents. (Photo courtesy of Reber)
fresh - fast - indian
rowning remains a leading cause of death for children from birth to the age of 5, so the importance of learning survival swim skills can’t be overemphasized. South Jordan resident Alliesha Reber has been teaching infants and toddlers about water safety since she was 14 years old. She and her mom, who was a competitive swimmer, ran a program in their backyard pool in Pleasant Grove, teaching life-saving techniques and developing water confidence in small children. “Drowning has always been in the top three for accidental deaths for children,” she said. “That’s just been something that I’ve been really passionate about changing.” When she got married and moved to Sandy, she opened Aquatics Academy, teaching children survival swimming in her backyard above-ground pool in the summer, and in an above-ground pool in her garage in the colder months. Her program grew quickly and soon she hired 10 instructors to work with her. She started looking for a way to expand, but finding a commercial pool she could purchase was tough. She didn’t want a hotel property and other pools were out of her price range. Then Salt Lake County decided to shutter the Marv Jensen Recreation Center in South Jordan. Reber called it “the perfect alignment of the stars.” She put in an offer and entered into a contract to purchase the property in November 2019. But when the earthquake happened in Salt Lake in March 2020, the county needed to use the facility to provide living space for unsheltered people whose building had been damaged by the quake. Once the building was placed on the market again, Reber
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found herself in a bidding war, which significantly raised the price. But she was persistent. With the help of an angel investor, and with her own budget of $1 million for renovations, Reber finally took ownership of the building. “South Jordan Mayor Dawn Ramsey has daughters who are swimmers, so I reached out to her office,” Reber said. “She wrote a beautiful letter that we submitted with our offer and we got it. Then we started renovations at the end of June, early July, in 2020. Basically, it’s a brand new pool with new plaster, new tile and new gutter stones. [The center] was built in the ‘80s and so it was very dated. We just gave it this whole facelift.” The main focus of Aquatics Academy (10300 S. Redwood Road) is still teaching survival swimming skills to children, but with the additional space, Reber has expanded her services to include adult swimming classes, competitive swim teams, an indoor soccer field, a small basketball court, a dance studio and a skills-training gym. For more information, visit Theacademysojo.com. Reber considers the 60,000 square-foot space to be an investment in children’s sports and a place for teams to come to train, practice and compete. She now lives with her husband and four sons in South Jordan, and she stays true to her original mission. “Unfortunately, people don’t think about drowning until it affects them personally, whether they lose a child or a niece or nephew,” Reber said. “For me, it’s always been about education and bringing awareness because it happens so quickly, and it happens so quietly. I just want the community to know that they have a resource here.” l
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January 2024 | Page 3
From humble origin to huge impact: Local businesswoman partners with international charity By Elisa Eames | e.eames@mycityjournals.com
I
s the American dream still alive? For Salt Lake Valley resident Alexandrina Mic-Podar, it certainly is—and then some. Known as Alex to friends and acquaintances alike, Mic-Podar was born in a small village in Romania. When she was just a little girl in 1989, rioting and violence broke out in many cities as the Romanian Revolution to oust Communism spread across the nation, culminating in the execution of the Romanian leader and his wife on Christmas Day. In 1990, her mother moved the family to Hungary, and her father was able to join them a year later. Finances were tight as they began their new lives. “I've been dabbling in small business since I was a kid, doing odd jobs and trading stuff with my classmates just to be able to buy lunch and school supplies,” Mic-Podar said. To help make ends meet, she dropped out of high school at age 14 to begin working full-time. “That’s where I got my real education,” she said with a knowing smile. To find clients for the massage therapy business she started on her own, she struck up conversations with fellow passengers while riding the bus. As a young adult, she met her friend and future business partner, American citizen Julie DeLong, while serving as a missionary in Hungary. “Then in 2005, thanks to some incredibly generous friends, I got the chance to move to the USA, where I saw the American dream come alive,” Mic-Podar said. “I brought with me a strong work ethic and the belief that anything is possible if you work for it. That's when the entrepreneur in me was born.” The first of her family to earn a college degree, Mic-Podar graduated from LDS Business College in business and accounting, using her hard-won knowledge and education to guide and assist numerous businesses in their efforts to grow. “I'm absolutely passionate about building businesses and bringing people together in ways that benefit them. I love helping startups and supporting new entrepreneurs in getting their dreams off the ground.” she said. Fluent in English, Hungarian and Romanian, she has served as a consultant, board member and even investor for various companies in Romania and the U.S. For almost four years, she was the National Director of Public Affairs in Ro-
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mania for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She and DeLong eventually both settled near the Herriman-Daybreak border, and in 2008, she watched DeLong struggle with several small office positions. “Alex joked that [I] was spending more time in QuickBooks than on Facebook, so why not turn it into a business?” DeLong Alex Mic-Podar has founded multiple companies and fostered various chariexplained with a smile. ties. (Kinser Studios) DeLong realized that what she loved most was bookkeeping and accounting, so with virtually no money, the pair launched Salt Lake Valley-based Backyard Bookkeeper and later, Backyard Payroll. With almost 50 employees and clients from multiple states, Backyard Bookkeeper has grown into one of the largest bookkeeping-only companies in the nation. And it’s no wonder why—with Mic-Podar’s and DeLong’s hands-on guidance and careful involvement, both companies continually strive to offer superior service. Partnering with ChamberWest Chamber of Commerce, Backyard Bookkeeper was a 2022 Worldwide Finance Award recipient. The company is also a member of the Forbes Financial Council and has been featured in several Forbes articles. DeLong has penned an article herself for Forbes’ online content. In 2018, Mic-Podar also co-founded sPc Strategies, which helps businesses create their own in-house accounting departments, and she and DeLong recently launched their online Bookkeeping Academy. “[I love] helping businesses overcome [financial] obstacles,” Mic-Podar said. She aims to do this by providing skilled bookkeeping professionals, essential training pro-
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Mic-Podar and a staff member from the Golden Hours Senior Center sort hats and scarves. (Golden Hours Senior Center)
grams and expert consulting. In fact, Mic-Podar regularly offers her expertise about starting and growing a business as she is often invited to speak at business functions and conferences. She has been featured on numerous webinar and podcast series and earned recommendations from many of her fellow business owners. Recognized by numerous organizations for her achievements, she was also honored last summer by Utah’s 40 Over 40, an organization that distinguishes and celebrates
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the accomplishments of remarkable and successful women over the age of 40. Mic-Podar concedes that she is somewhat unique in what she has done. “I’m a… female CEO in a world dominated by male CEOs,” she said good-naturedly. But those who know Mic-Podar best will readily acknowledge that her good qualities don’t end with her business expertise. She has freely given her time and talents to various charities, serving as a consultant, board member and even chairwoman. For four years, she volunteered as an employment specialist for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and in 2011, she became a consultant for Bridge of Love, an organization that provides social services and support to abandoned children and their foster families in Romania. Just two years later, Bridge of Love made her their executive director. Currently, she is helping with a hat and scarf drive for Ukrainian refugee children in Romania through U.S. Friends of AMAR, the American arm of London-based charity AMAR International Charitable Foundation. In 1991, Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, U.K., founded AMAR, which loosely means “builder” in Arabic, to provide relief to Iraqis persecuted by Saddam Hussein. In the decades since, the organization has provided healthcare, education and emergency relief to millions of displaced and vulnerable people in the Middle East and the world. AMAR, whose official patron has been none other than Prince Charles himself (now King Charles III), has also maintained a presence in Mic-Podar’s native Romania helping orphans and special needs children to integrate into society. Later in the 90s, the baroness chose the Salt Lake Valley as headquarters for U.S. Friends of AMAR, which also collaborates with LDS Charities. During her tenure at LDS Business College, Mic-Podar had met D. Louise Brown, a current board member of U.S. Friends of AMAR, and it was during this time together that Brown came to deeply admire Mic-Podar, particularly her courage. During one of Nicholson’s trips to the Salt Lake Valley two years ago, Brown introduced her to Mic-Podar. The two women hit it off immediately as they discussed AMAR’s future, and Mic-Podar offered her thoughts on how to improve the organization. “Alex has such a big heart!” Brown said. Mic-Podar has been a tremendous supporter of AMAR ever since. As she saw Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion continue to pour over the Romanian border, Nicholson asked Brown for hand-knit or crocheted scarves and hats to send to child refugees. The goal of the drive is not only to provide warmth but also a personal connection with a handmade gift from someone half a world away. The baroness requested that a handwritten note from its creator accompany every item. Brown was somewhat overwhelmed by the request, but
With our
she knew just who to call for help: Alex Mic-Podar, who was a natural choice not only because of her continued support of U.S. Friends of AMAR but also because some of her family members still live in Romania. “Alex is a very humanitarian-minded person,” Brown said. “She is the kind of person who gets things done.” Mic-Podar immediately created a Facebook group for the drive, and in just a few short months, membership in the group has grown to over 120. Members share ideas, tutorials and photos, and other Facebook users have reached out from all over to join the effort, including a resident of England who didn’t realize the group was in the U.S. Mic-Podar and other volunteers continue to work with local religious women’s organizations, church congregations, high school and senior groups, many individuals, and even the Centerville South Stake Humanitarian Center. The Golden Hours Senior Citizen Center in Ogden is just one group that has diligently worked to do its part, and in November, Mic-Podar drove to collect their donations and made a point of arriving early to spend as much time as she could visiting with the seniors themselves. The goal for the first batch of scarves and hats was to deliver them to the children on St. Nicholas Day, which falls on Dec. 6. In many European nations, St. Nicholas Day is a significant holiday, where gifts are bestowed on children and those in need. It marks the beginning of the holiday season in general. “One shipment left at the end of September with 207 hats and 71 scarves, weighing 70 pounds. We were shocked to get so many items! The second shipment left on Oct. 30 with 498 hats and 291 scarves and weighed 205 pounds. A third shipment left Nov. 11 with more than 1,000 items!” Brown said. She has also received donations of yarn, supplies, transportation and even childcare from those who don’t knit or crochet. Brown credits a small number of key people, including Mic-Podar, with the overwhelming response. “So many things fell into place for this project,” Brown said. “Alex’s role in this was absolutely essential. This would never have gotten off the ground if she had not been willing to step up and contribute her time and skills… to enable us to reach out to people we don’t even know.” Baroness Nicholson hopes that the community created by Mic-Podar’s Facebook group and other outreach efforts continues to grow to help with future humanitarian opportunities in the U.S. and U.K. Hundreds of children will be delighted with the handmade, heartfelt accessories on St. Nicholas Day, but because the need is ongoing, the drive will continue through February. Cache Valley-based Juniper Systems, Inc. has graciously assisted with discounted shipping rates. Numerous charities, organizations, businesses and indi-
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U.S. Friends of AMAR is grateful to Alex Mic-Podar for helping them collect such a large number of handmade hats and scarves. (D. Louise Brown/U.S. Friends of AMAR)
viduals attribute much of their success to Mic-Podar’s impact. “My [Romanian] grandparents taught me about love, faith and hard work, and those lessons have stayed with me,” she said. “I learned to never give up and to always dream big, no matter the circumstances.” Last summer, Mic-Podar was finally able to celebrate becoming a U.S. citizen. For questions about or to donate to the Ukrainian Children’s Hat and Scarf Drive, contact Alex Mic-Podar at alex@ backyardbookkeeper.com or D. Louise Brown at (801) 6820691, or visit the Facebook group, Hats & Scarves Project for Ukrainian Children by AMAR at www.facebook.com/ groups/hatsandscarvesforukraine. For more information about AMAR or U.S. Friends of AMAR, visit amarfoundation.org or usfriendsofamar.org. l
JORDAN SCHOOL DISTRICT - Public Notices
SPECIAL EDUCATION CHILD FUND 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, 2024, Jordan School District will destroy special education records of students born prior to September, 1996. 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
January 2024 | Page 5
South Jordan 2023
Top: Bingham baseball competes at the state championships. (Pat McDonald) Middle: Students loved getting chalked during Aspen Elementary’s second annual Color Run, which served as a fundraiser for the school’s PTA. (Julie Slama/City Journals) Bottom: Henna artist Conso Nikolazza paints an intricate design on an attendee at the art market in South Jordan. Nikolazza also displays her whimsical, fantasy-inspired artwork. (City Journals)
Top: New playground infrastructure is a highlight to the first phase of Bingham Creek Regional Park. (City Journals) Middle:Two families, one of them from South Jordan (left) of Kiley, Sydney, Parker and Heather, competed on the show “Survivalists” where they were given only a single outfit to wear for four days of filming, relying only on each other to complete tasks. (Photo courtesy of Abbey Kovacevich) Bottom: South Jordan Elementary sixth-grader Lili Mattson gets air in the long jump at Jordan School District’s Sports Day which celebrated friendship and inclusivity through athletics. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
Top: Students from Eastlake Elementary took part in JSD’s Sports Day. (Julie Slama/City Journals) Middle: Sen. Mitt Romney met with South Jordan officials—including Mayor Dawn Ramsey, Councilmember Tamara Zander and Councilmember Patrick Harris—in late March to discuss infrastructure projects in South Jordan. (Photos courtesy Romney Press Office) Bottom: Bingham High teacher Andrea Call was surprised when Jordan Education Foundation Executive Director Mike Haynes congratulated her as Bingham’s Outstanding Educator of the Year. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
Page 6 | January 2024
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Top Left: Members of the South Jordan City council including Mayor Ramsey join members of The Larry H. Miller Group in breaking ground where the new Bees stadium will be built by 2025 (Rachel Aubrey/City Journals) Top Middle:The Minerettes swept region on its way to a state championship. (Photos courtesy Erin Gadd) Top Right: Bingham basketball. Left Middle: Bingham won its first softball title since 2010 by sweeping Herriman in the championship series. (Photos by Pat McDonald) Middle: Former Mountain Creek students Mia Jackman and Jaymi Bonner met when they were elementary school age and became steadfast friends. (Julie Slama/City Jorunals) Middle below: Officials cut the ribbon for Bingham Creek Regional Park. (City Journals)
Above: Gary Whatcott and his wife Pam stand at the podium in his last city council meeting as city manager, where the council announced they will be naming the public safety building the Gary L. Whatcott Public Safety Building. (Photo courtesy of the city of South Jordan) Below: Maribeth Jones said she wasn’t looking forward to working remotely from home full time, but has come to see all the personal and professional benefits remote work has to offer. (Photo courtesy of Maribeth Jones)
Left: Curtis Carlson and Nick Anderson celebrate a goal over Mountain Ridge. (Travis Barton/City Journals) Above: A coot was shot with a dart through its foot at the aquifer in Daybreak and taken to Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation. Several animals were injured by blow darts in the area. (Photo courtesy of Wasatch Wanderers)
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January 2024 | Page 7
South Jordan group serves kindness every Friday By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com
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ollie Warner knows what it’s like to experience food scarcity. When she was a child, she knew if she didn’t get school lunch, she was out of luck because dinner and breakfast weren’t guaranteed. At age 10 she started babysitting and cleaning salons so she could have enough money to buy food. So, even when she was a single mom with four boys, making less than $30,000 per year, Warner knew she needed to help others. She looked for volunteer opportunities that her children could be involved with, but many of the organizations had minimum age requirements. “My children couldn’t do it because they were too young, so I decided to do it myself,” she said. “It’s not like I made a lot of money, but I figured out how to utilize what I had. We kind of get caught up in ourselves but it’s our job to serve each other.” Warner made an effort 10 years ago to take food, clothes and other supplies to downtown Salt Lake. She and her sons did it sporadically until about seven years ago when they formally created Friday Friends. Every Friday, they take warm food and clothes, and human connection, to the unsheltered population. Along the way, friends and businesses have jumped in to help, pitching in with
money, time and donations. She credits Mike and Lisa Neibaur and Cathy Jorgensen with helping her to keep the project afloat. “I don’t know if I’d have been able to keep it going this far without them,” she said. Before the pandemic, Friday Friends would set up a mobile soup kitchen where they distributed warm soup, fresh fruits and snacks. Now, the group puts together nearly 150 food packages each week that they give to those in need. Every Friday morning, Warner loads up her SUV and takes donations downtown near the Rio Grande Depot. She’s often asked if she’s afraid to be around unsheltered people or if she’s worried about her safety when interacting with them. “As a society we’ve been taught that they’re all addicts, or they’re crazy or we’re going to be stabbed,” Warner said. “But they’re just people and the reality of life is, we’re all one paycheck away from being in the same position.” Over the last decade, she’s made many friends with the people she serves. When her son turned 9, he wanted to take cupcakes downtown to share his birthday with the people he’d grown to love. So they made 100 cupcakes and distributed the treats. As people realized it was his birthday, the whole crowd began singing “Happy Birthday.” That mem-
Every Friday, South Jordan resident Hollie Warner and members of her group Friday Friends bring food and friendship to the unsheltered population in Salt Lake. (Photo courtesy of Warner)
ory still makes Warner emotional. “I think people have forgotten in today’s world what it’s like to show love. It can come in any form. Maybe a bag of apples or a box of granola or sending $5,” Warner said. “I think we get caught up in the idea that the problem is so big, we don’t know what to do, so we’re going to do nothing. But every small contribution makes a difference.” Friday Friends goes through several cases of water each week, plus fresh fruit and vegetables, tortillas, granola bars and other food items. There is also a need for warm clothes, underwear, socks, gloves and tarps. During Halloween, she reached out to her Facebook community to gather leftover can-
dy to take to youth living on the streets. Warner accepts donations at her home in South Jordan where she lives with her partner and their blended family of seven children, plus an exchange student. Anyone interested in donating or getting involved can reach out to her on Facebook for more information. For those who’d like to donate money to Friday Friends, Warner’s Venmo is @Hollie-Warner-1. “This little village of people have come together, and because of that little village, over the last 10 years we have fed over 30,000 people,” she said. “It’s not because of me, it’s because I’ve had people who believed in what I believed in.”l
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Mrs. Daybreak finds healing and hope through the Mrs. Utah America pageant By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com
I
t took less than a year for Amanda McCombs’ life to turn upside down. Following a stressful winter where she processed past trauma, she developed a debilitating case of shingles in her sinuses in February 2023. Later that month, her mother and stepfather’s home in Idaho burned to the ground. Her mother lost her dog, her farm animals and her Steinway piano. Six months after the fire, McCombs’ mother unexpectedly passed away, leaving the family devastated, and sending McCombs spiraling into depression. She recalls the last conversation she had with her mom when she talked about her job as a first grade teacher at Advantage Arts Academy in Herriman. “I was so exhausted because it was the first week of school and I was sitting in the bathtub and telling her how hard it was to be working with all those cute little kids because they just suck all your energy out,” McCombs said. “She talked about how she wasn’t feeling very good and kept telling me to remember to take care of myself. And that was the last phone call I had with her. I had planned to go visit her that weekend. Instead, I ended up going to her funeral.” McCombs said her physical and mental health continued to deteriorate. She couldn’t eat, she couldn’t sleep and she had no hope for what the future would hold. She would
put on a happy face and pretend everything was okay, even when she was suffering. But then, she received a surprising lifeline. Jessica Stelling, a local realtor and organizer with Mrs. Utah America, suggested that McCombs apply to be part of the pageant. “She sent me the application and I don’t know if she knows it or not, but she might have saved my life,” McCombs said. “It’s been this healing journey. I have people supporting me, just incredibly supportive, and things are falling into place. She told me anyone with a voice should be a part of the pageant because it amplifies the voice you have.” McCombs got word that she’ll represent her community as Mrs. Daybreak in the upcoming Mrs. Utah America pageant. To prepare for the pageant in March, McCombs hired a personal trainer, which she never would have done if it wasn’t for the competition. Moving her body and seeing its transformation has helped pull her out of her deep depression. It’s also been a way for her to connect with her mother, who modeled and competed in pageants many years before McCombs was born. She’s working on her platform for the event which will be “Take care of yourself - Love, Mom.” It will include information about processing trauma and PTSD and valuing self-care.
Mrs. Daybreak Amanda McCombs poses for her first Mrs. Utah America photo shoot. She credits the pageant with helping her work through trauma, loss and grief. (Photo courtesy of McCombs/Whitney Faith Media)
McCombs said she’s not going to be quiet anymore and wants people to see they aren’t alone in their suffering or their pain, that it’s okay to ask for help. “Since I started this pageant, there’s been this incredible community, it’s like us against the world,” she said. “We’re showing you can go through these things and still be a capable, amazing person. You can’t let it stop you.” McCombs and her husband Leigh have
a blended family with five children. They’ve lived in Daybreak since 2019. The Mrs. Utah America pageant will be held at Murray High School on March 22-23. For information, visit MrsUtahAmerica.com. “We’re showing that it’s okay to be vulnerable,” she said. “Don’t wait to start setting goals for yourself and start making yourself better.”l
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January 2024 | Page 9
South Jordan author included in ‘Voices of the Future’ anthology By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com
South Jordan resident Madigan Thompson displays the newly-published anthology featuring her short story, “Obsidian Wings.” “Voices of the Future” can be found on Amazon. (Photo courtesy of Thompson)
T
he biggest lesson South Jordan resident Madigan Thompson learned while studying at The Author Conservatory is rejection is the pathway to growth. During her studies at the three-year online college-alternative program for gifted writers, Thompson, 21, honed her writing skills. She knows becoming a full-time writer isn’t easy, but she thinks it’s totally worth it. “As we go through the three-year program, we write two full-length novels, and we do a short story,” she said. “We have classes by award-winning authors, professional editors and successful entrepreneurs. By the time we graduate, we’ll be able to pursue publication and already be earning money.” Part of the school’s curriculum includes writing a short story for the anthology, “Voices of the Future,” which features nine graduating students. “Obsidian Wings” is the story penned by Thompson about Cor, a dragon girl, who lives alone on her mountain until a carriage crashes into her life and the people inside shake her world. It’s not the first time she’s written about the main character and Thompson found the short story assignment to be a great opportunity to revisit Cor’s character and give her a unique story. Thompson hopes to rewrite the first novel written about Cor and plans to create a novel that features Cor as a Mary Poppins-like character, but she’s a dragon. Tompson’s writing is influenced by many writers including J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Andrew Peterson. She also connected with the “How to Train Your Dragon” series by author Cressida Cowell. “On the surface, it’s a kid’s book, with
Page 10 | January 2024
the humor and a wacky world,” she said, “but when we look deeper, it has such deep themes about growing up, and how growing up isn’t always pretty. But you have your friends and your family with you. It surprised me in the best way.” Thompson, who graduated from a homeschool high school, is attracted to science fiction and fantasy writing because she believes it’s a gateway to imagination and it’s a way for many children to get drawn into reading for fun. “It helps us grow and gives us an escape from reality and also to learn more about reality through these characters,” she said. “Even though they’re not real, quote, unquote, they’re real and we can connect with them and enjoy the world through their eyes and experiences.” Thompson schedules three hours each day for her writing, even when she’s working a full-time job. Along with writing, Thompson also creates digital fan art based on anime, science fiction and fantasy shows. She also collects her favorite books and enjoys binge-watching TV with her dad. “Voices of the Future” was released in December and is available on Amazon in paperback and ebook versions. It has already been named a #1 New Release in Teen and Young Adult Short Stories. For more information about Thompson, visit MadiganThompson.com. “My goal for all my stories, no matter what the genre, is to tell a story about family, whether it’s found or blood, and about hope in dark times,” she said. “And of course, it has to have a nice dash of humor mixed in there.”l
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Daybreak resident wants women to connect and thrive By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com
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ennifer Banks loves inspirational quotes. One of her favorites is “Drink as you pour.” It’s a reminder to her that in order to help others, she needs to continually replenish her own pitcher. This became more clear when she had her first child five years ago. When she was pregnant, she encountered many women who felt they’d lost their identities when they became mothers. They experienced discouragement and disconnection, and felt they’d given up a part of themselves. They weren’t sure how to get it back. Banks decided she was not going to let that happen to her. She promised herself she would help other mothers return to their personal goals, desires and passions. “As women we are such givers, we’re such nurturers, we’re so selfless, but taking time to keep ourselves in the equation has greater dividends at the end,” she said. “You’re able to show up better, you’re able to be happier and more present and just feel like yourself within your motherhood, instead of giving whatever is left over.” This concept sparked the idea for her podcast “A is for Adversity.” Banks started the podcast three years ago, but her show gained traction once she moved to the Daybreak community two years ago. On her podcast, she talks about how to deal with the hard times that cause a break-
down in identity and how to reach out for help. Each season is an A-Z tutorial on how to deal with everyday challenges. Banks believes loneliness is rampant in women’s lives. In addition to her podcast, she created The Sunshine Community to address the disconnection. She wants it to be a way for women to rely on each other and tap into each other’s strengths. “As humans, we’re craving that. We’re social beings and so we need a place to find that,” she said. “We live in this community that’s full of thousands of people, but what we need is a more tight-knit support system where we really know who to call. It’s really connecting the helper with the person seeking help.” Her goal is to have a brick-and-mortar venue for The Sunshine Community group, a place women can come for informal gatherings like workshops, book clubs, luncheons or art classes. Banks said there are lots of big venues for events like weddings and receptions, but nothing small, intimate and affordable where people can get together and connect with each other. She worries that mothers invest so much time and energy in their children, taking them to sports activities, music lessons, art classes, but women don’t often invest in their own self-improvement, development or continu-
ing education. “I found that a lot of women were saying that they lost themselves and that once they were empty nesters, they had no clue what to do with their lives,” Banks said. “I made a pact with myself that I wasn’t going to lose my identity throughout motherhood. It’s the purpose of my podcast [and The Sunshine Community] to help other women maintain their identity through motherhood.” Banks has a background in education. She taught second grade while her husband finished law school and she currently teaches preschool in her home. She would like to include a preschool or daycare with The Sunshine Community venue to relieve some stress when it comes to childcare. Her podcasts are posted every Thursday on a variety of streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple. She continues to create a community that supports women through all the stages of their lives and continues to move toward building a venue for connection. “In the Daybreak community, we have the community center, but it feels like a kind of sterile environment, you know, the vibe isn’t quite there,” she said. “So there’s a need to gather in a place where we can relax and truly let down our walls and connect with one another.”l
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Daybreak resident Jennifer Banks hosts the “A is for Adversity” podcast where she offers support and resources for women who experience loneliness and disconnection. (Photo courtesy of Banks)
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Development agreement signed for The Point’s Phase One, infrastructure will start this spring By Mimi Darley Dutton | m.dutton@mycityjournals.com
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he Point will start taking shape this spring after a development agreement was signed for Phase One. Leaders attribute that progress to fewer regulations in Utah allowing for innovation and people working collaboratively. Phase One is approximately 100 acres centrally located among the 600 acres at the Point of the Mountain where the prison once stood. It will include more than 3,300 multi-family residential units (400 deemed affordable), 16 acres of parks including a Central Green for activities like concerts and skating, six miles of roads and more than 12,000 parking stalls, 10 miles of sidewalks and trails, more than 2 million square feet of office space, 540 hotel rooms, an event center with 2,000 seats, shopping, restaurants and grocery stores, and a large hall for facilitating relationships among universities, businesses and entrepreneurs. The Point’s officials anticipate the eventual creation of 14,000 local jobs. “The entire Point is in Draper City. It’s been a long time coming…it’s very innovative. In a few months, you’ll see this place
transform into the future,” Draper Mayor Troy Walker said. Walker serves on The Point of the Mountain State Land Authority (POMSLA), a board that selected Innovation Point Partners (IPP) for the project. IPP is comprised of international firm Lincoln Property Company and Utah’s Colmena Group and Wadsworth Development Group. The Point’s Executive Director Alan Matheson said input from 16,000 Utahns has shaped development because it is taxpayer owned land. Renderings of Phase One were on display at the ceremonial signing. “The public picked the most-dense development,” Walker said. South Jordan Mayor Dawn Ramsey credits “Utah’s secret sauce” of collaboration, a phrase she heard from Gov. Spencer Cox, as the reason The Point is progressing. “We’re kind of weird here in Utah… we collaborate,” Ramsey said. The Point falls within the district of Congressman Burgess Owens who said taking away regulations for the sake of innovation “gives people in Utah the best A rendering of the River to Range Courtyard at The Point. A Phase One development agreement was signed in November and Draper’s Wadsworth Development Group is one of three companies working together as “Innovation Point Partners” on the project. (Courtesy The Point)
life.” Owens noted that Utah is the fastest growing state in the union. “I’ve never seen a state that is as innovative and forward thinking. What we’ve done here is going to attract so many people. Knowing we’re going to grow, let’s do it smart. Making sure our kids can afford to stay—that’s the end goal,” Owens said. Patrick Gilligan, executive vice president of Lincoln Property Company, echoed Ramsey’s and Owens’ statements. “This collaboration with the state wouldn’t happen in Washington or California. It’s easier to do things in the private sector normally,” Gilligan said. IPP will invest more than $2.3 billion in private sector financing to construct buildings and amenities. The Utah State Legislature has invested $165 million toward the creation of infrastructure, a loan that will be paid back with interest through revenues from future ground lease payments. “Over time, it will generate enough revenue to cover the cost of the new prison. It’s paid for but this is a way to backfill the budget,” Walker said. The Legislature also invested in a new FrontRunner station for the purpose of connecting to regional transit. Walker anticipates The Point will likely contract with Draper City for public
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safety, emergency services and road maintenance. “We’ll strike a price that works,” he said. And he projects Draper property values to rise. “It’s certainly not going to impact values in a negative sense…that place is going to be desirable.” Draper’s current population hovers around 55,000. Walker thinks it will rise to 80,000 when The Point is fully built, but slowly over time. Since he first took office 10 years ago, Walker envisioned high-rises at The Point, now he thinks they’ll be 10 or 12 stories tall. Because it’s state-owned, none of the property development will go through Draper’s planning commission, but “our city staff will get input.” He doesn’t think the growth will negatively affect his city. “It’s pretty unique for Draper residents. Our established community is quiet and then right across the freeway we’re going to have a vibrant downtown. It’s the best of both worlds.” Walker continues to hope to attract an NFL or NHL team to have a stadium at The Point. Infrastructure will begin this spring with vertical construction starting in 2025. “It’s nothing but up,” Walker said. l
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January 2024 | Page 15
Real answers about artificial intelligence in the classroom By Jet Burnham | j.burnham@mycityjournals.com Editor’s note: this is part of a series eliminating the risks that are associated with of articles about artificial intelligence in any new program,” Jordan School District schools. Superintendent Dr. Anthony Godfrey said. “SchoolAI put a fence around artificial inhile many express concerns about how telligence so that our information doesn’t get AI will affect their job or their way of out and we only let in the information that life, Jordan School District employees are al- we want. So we have safeguards in place. We ready using AI to improve their jobs and the have a lot of training in place, and I’m really way they teach. optimistic about the way SchoolAI is going During their Nov. 28 meeting, members to be used.” of the Jordan School District Board of EdGraham Bany, a teacher at Valley High ucation approved a five year contract with School, said SchoolAI is a closed system, unSchoolAI, an artificial intelligence platform like popular public AI interfaces. created specifically for schools and devel“Since the SchoolAI is trained on educaoped with input from Jordan District teachers tion content, it’s a lot cleaner and easier than who piloted it. an alternative artificial intelligence,” he said. “AI is here,” board member Darrell “So, when I create a rubric using SchoolAI, Robinson said. “No matter what, it’s going and a rubric using Chat GPT, I get really, reto be our reality, so we felt that we needed to ally different responses from both of them, take control of it and figure out how to use it because SchoolAI is actually made to help us instead of banning it and fearing it.” meet our goals with students.” Jordan School District is leading out among other districts with their early adop- Concern: AI will replace teachers tion of AI tools, while some other districts Answer: AI will make better teachers “The teacher is not getting replaced by have banned AI, Robinson said. Jordan District representatives have been asked to share AI,” Kevin Morrill of SchoolAI explained. their approach to AI at a school board con- “They’re just leveraging AI to be a better teacher, to be more prepared when they go vention this month. Those educators who have been using in front of the class. They use our platform to AI tools for several months are excited to do a lot of the heavy lifting. They get about share the benefits of—and to address com- 80% down the road using the platform on any given thing and then they can put on their mon concerns about—AI. creative hats, their experience, and then bake that into it. So we’re seeing more prepared Concern: AI is not safe Answer: Closed AI systems and cautious lessons, more prepared courses and units. We teachers keep students safe actually think that AI has the potential to inAmber Saffen, an engineering and ro- crease humanity in the classroom by giving botics teacher at Jordan Academy for Tech- teachers more time to connect more deeply nology and Careers, said caution, not fear, is with students.” a reasonable response to AI. West Jordan Middle School teacher An“I think there’s a lot of value in ap- drew Holmes said using AI tools to accelerproaching any new tool with caution,” she ate productivity and reduce time spent on lessaid. “I would alleviate people’s fears by son planning allows him to have more time saying schools are aware. Just like we protect to be a teacher and interact with his students. students from certain websites but encourage “I don’t think this is going to replace the use of others, we’re protecting students me—this is helping the overworked teacher from certain AIs. There are plenty of teachers do what they want to do,” he said. and administrators who are excited about AI, Many teachers save time by using AI who see the value but understand the risks, tools for monotonous, time-consuming or and are working so hard so that it is being complex tasks. implemented and that we’re teaching AI lit“I regularly use the AI to help me draft eracy, as well.” an email to respond if I have a very upset parJordan School District is committed to ent,” District Math Consultant Amy Kinder using AI and other technologies ethically and said. “I still want to show parents that I care, to providing guidance and support within the but it takes so long to craft it, because you framework of being: Conscientious, Collabo- know someone’s going to pick it apart. AI rative, Critical and Creative, as described on helps me draft great emails really fast.” their website. She said AI only generates the first draft. The SchoolAI tool, which is being im“I look at it and re-edit it until it feels plemented district-wide, provides safeguards, like a quality educator response with my flair data security and privacy protections that on it—it’s never just a copy/paste or anything comply with federal student privacy laws. like that,” Kinder said. “It’s a technology that we’re just starting AI is sometimes better than humans at to use on a broad scale, and we’ll continue responding appropriately and consistently to to watch to make sure that we’re getting all students’ behavior, too, Bany said. of the benefit and that we’re mitigating and “Everyone’s so scared of AI and lan-
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Valley High School teacher Graham Bany demonstrates the AI he uses in his classroom to Congressman Burgess Owens. (Photo courtesy of Darrell Robinson)
guage models and machine learning, but they also forget that the safeguards that are required to be put in place are actually helping with the ways the kids are getting direct one-to-one feedback from the machine that’s more consistent than a human,” he said. Unlike a human, SchoolAI’s feedback to students is always positive and it redirects them when they get off-topic or behave inappropriately, he said. One of his high school students typed a negative comment about another student and the chatbot’s response impressed Bany. “It said, ‘Hey, you probably should consider not calling someone by rude names, but you should also still be sure to explain the things that they’re doing that are making you want to call them that word,’ so even the feedback that it gives when kids are speaking in ways that they shouldn’t, it still tries to redirect them positively,” he said.
Concern: Using AI is cheating Answer: It can be, so teachers are adapting
Within SchoolAI, teachers have control and can set parameters for what the chatbot can and can’t do for students. It cannot be tricked into writing a student’s essay but will act more as a writing coach. However, students have access to AI tools without these kinds of constraints outside of school. They can find AI tools on the internet to help them study or organize their thoughts, but they can also find answers to cheat on their homework. “I think the tech has caused many pains
for many math teachers,” Kinder said. “Because you can take pictures of math problems or you can Google any math problem and it will tell the answer, so it’s like they’re taking away the joy of solving it. So I think many of them don’t see it as a tool just yet.” There are AI detectors teachers can use to identify AI generated content, which Saffen said aren’t even always necessary, because she can often tell when a student tries to pass off AI writing as their own. “ChatGPT does have a very particular voice to it,” she said. However, sometimes Saffen lets her students use AI-generated content, such as to write a paper explaining their engineering project. “I was not grading them on their ability to present the idea in writing,” Saffen said. “The writing was just a medium for them to get their idea into my head.” But she reminded her students that in other classes, using AI to write a paper is cheating. “I would totally 100% support and understand any English teacher who said you can’t use AI, because what they’re assessing is the person’s ability to write,” Saffen said. To prevent students from using AI to cheat, Saffen said teachers will change the way they assess learning, just as teachers did when they realized they couldn’t keep calculators or the internet out of the classroom. “Teachers don’t let you use spell check on a spelling test, but they let you use spell check on your essays, and that’s AI or machine learning,” Saffen said. “I totally think it
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will come down to teachers adapting and figuring out and asking the question, ‘What am I assessing?’ And if the AI is not counteracting what you’re trying to assess, then I don’t think we as teachers need to be afraid of it.” Jordan District is already changing the way teachers assess students’ math skills. Nearly all of the district’s middle schools are currently piloting a new interactive method of teaching secondary math skills through rich problem-solving. There is less opportunity to cheat because students solve math problems collaboratively instead of filling out worksheets on their own. “People think that AI is going to change how everything is done to such a degree that people won’t be able to adapt,” Saffen said. “But teachers care about their students, and they care about knowing that their students learned the content. And so if we think that we are no longer able to do that, we will find a way. I’ve known some fantastic teachers and I know they’ll figure it out. It will just take a while. But I don’t think AI is going to break everyone, I guess is what I’m saying.”
Concern: AI can’t be trusted Answer: That’s true, so we make sure students understand that
Kinder was initially distrustful of AI. “I did have trepidations about it— How is it creating this? Is this from a meaningful place? Can I trust it all the time to do that?” Kinder said.
West Jordan Middle School science teacher Andrew Holmes loves using AI tools in his classroom. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Homes)
The solution to the problem of mistrust has been education. Kinder attended training sessions and webinars to learn to use and understand AI, which helped her feel more comfortable using it. Now she uses it to develop engaging math activities, to collect and organize information for presentations and to craft emails. Saffen, who uses AI for many tasks, always double-checks its work. “There’s some forms of machine learning that we use, and as teachers we understand what it is we’re trying to do, so we’re able to identify the weaknesses in that,”
Saffen said. When she introduces students to a new tech tool, there is always a conversation about the potential impacts and weaknesses in its capabilities. “The students are aware that AI is going to be helpful, but also has potential concerns,” Saffen said. “I had a student ask the chatbot, ‘Is this information I need to cite and how would I cite it?’ I was actually really impressed that my students are already thinking along the conversation line of ‘How do I make sure that just because I’m using an AI, I’m not plagiarizing any ideas?’” Teachers have been given the opportuni-
ty to get ahead of students on AI tools. Before SchoolAI was released district-wide, 100 Jordan District educators piloted SchoolAI and provided feedback that helped designers customize features according to teachers’ needs. For the first few months of the school year, only teachers had direct access to SchoolAI. “Having teachers on-board early on and engaging with it helps them understand the benefits of SchoolAI,” Godfrey said. “It also helps them help students be good digital citizens, and to use AI effectively and in a way that helps support their learning, instead of using it as a substitute for learning.” Saffen was impressed that the district offered AI training even before SchoolAI was in use in most classrooms. The Teaching and Learning Department provides regular training, as well as tips and support through their Instagram account and podcast. “There are a lot of very smart, very capable people who have been at the forefront of this and have been ready for it for a while,” Saffen said. Jordan School District has prioritized educating stakeholders to ease their concerns about AI in the classroom. “We’ll continue to inform parents and the community about how SchoolAI is being used,” Godfrey said. “Ongoing training is available for teachers to help make sure that we’re making the most of artificial intelligence in the classroom.” l
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January 2024 | Page 17
How Bingham’s new volleyball coach Reed Carlson got the Miners to outright region title By Brian Shaw | b.shaw@mycityjournals.com
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eed Carlson was a wildly successful volleyball coach at Lone Peak, winning five state titles from 2016 to 2021. But, somewhere between 2021 and this past summer, Carlson made the decision to become the next head coach at Bingham High School. It’s crazy to think the Bingham Miners volleyball program hadn’t won a region title in eight long years. But during the recently completed 2023-24 season, they did just that, and then some. So it was no small feat then, that the Miners dispatched Copper Hills, their longtime rivals, with relative ease Oct. 24, 2023 at The Pit: a 25-19, 25-14 and 25-19 victory. “I’m very proud of the girls,” Carlson said. “They have shown up every day ready to work and learn.” Bingham’s season looks even more impressive when you realize this Miners team spent the first month of the preseason playing all their games away from home in August while The Pit, their home gymnasium, was still under construction. And yet Bingham [25-3, 9-1 Region 3] lifted its first title in the realigned Region
2 outright, winning a trophy that in years past usually went right to Copper Hills. [The Miners did lose once in region play to Corner Canyon.] Others to get past Bingham during the regular season were 6A champion Lone Peak and 6A Pleasant Grove—but they were the only ones to do so. “We have a saying in our gym that we are going to be better today than we were yesterday, and it has gotten us to this point,” said Carlson of his team that MaxPreps ranked the No. 2 team in Utah behind Lone Peak for most of the season. Construction on Bingham’s main gymnasium was so intrusive in July that it forced Carlson and his new team away from the school for tryouts. So Carlson made the best of a bad situation. His Miners hopefuls competed for a chance to make Bingham’s team at a gym in North Salt Lake where Carlson coaches club volleyball for Club V. It was a gymnasium that budding Miners like Levani Key-Powell and Solia Angilau were familiar with—they play their club ball there, too. That was only the first major hurdle
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the Miners and Carlson had to clear; soon after the tryouts were completed, Bingham administrators told the new head coach that the gym wouldn’t be ready in time for the start of the 2023 season. Carlson had to inform his new team that they would be spending the first month of the season on the road. So bound and determined were the Miners to make this look routine that they took a field trip to the state capitol building, among other things, since they were betrothed to the big yellow school bus. During the month of August, the Miners merely lost one match while they embarked on this quest to opposing gyms. In Bingham’s three wins of the four matches it played during that month, it didn’t give up one set. And when September hit, the gym was nearly ready. Bingham was undeterred, hitting the road for a tournament at UVU. From Sept. 7-9, the Miners won four matches in a row without surrendering a single set—then they blasted rival Mountain Ridge and pummeled Pleasant Grove in the tourney’s title game, both by the scores of 3-1. Finally back at home in a refurbished Pit after two-plus months spent on a big yellow school bus eating fast food at truck stops, the Miners welcomed Mountain Ridge on Sept. 12 and defeated their rivals by the same 3-1 score. For the rest of September, Bingham would not lose a single set—let alone a match. For the first time in a long time, Bingham was getting noticed thanks to a can-do attitude instilled by their new coach. This was a team that at the same time last year already lost as many games as Carlson’s bunch had won. After an emphatic win on Oct. 3 over rival Copper Hills, the one-loss Miners had just avenged the loss that ended their season. When asked, the new coach had a fiveword response: “We have a positive outlook,” he replied. There was no mention of revenge, of hatred, of negativity. It simply wasn’t a word that was in the vernacular of the new Miners, who during the month of October marched on to the 5A/6A Challenge, played five matches in three days and won four of them. But Lone Peak, the team Carlson coached for five years, was on Bingham’s schedule of teams to be played at that tournament. The Miners suffered their second loss of the season on Oct. 7. It was a slugfest that literally went to a fifth set to find a
Reed Carlson led the Bingham volleyball team to the semifinals in his first year at Bingham. (Photo courtesy Reed Carlson)
winner. The next day saw Bingham lose its third match—this time to Pleasant Grove. After that, the Miners wouldn’t lose another game until the state tournament rolled around. They thumped Davis and Weber in the second round and quarterfinals, 3-0. The 6A semifinals would pit Bingham up against Lone Peak, as luck would have it. So as the Miners prepared for a serious shot at their first state title in four decades, the people of South Jordan were hoping to put that 40-year genie of jinxes back in its bottle for good. Carlson said he thought his Miners team appeared ready. “We are looking forward to the challenge of state next week,” added Bingham’s first-year coach at the time. And that’s where the Miners would end their season, losing in straight sets to Coach Carlson’s former team. But the new coach already has the South Jordan community thinking about those volleyball heights they reached back in the late 1980s and early 1990s when Esther Halliday led Bingham to three consecutive state crowns [1989-1991]. As luck would have it, the Miners’ last state volleyball title came during that 1991-92 school year. It’s kind of hard to believe that the last time Bingham lifted a state crown was the same time that Windows 3.1 was released. It was also the year that the movie “Aladdin” came out. And there is the hope that Bingham will break that curse in 2024. l
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Beyond textbooks: How the maker movement is changing education, fostering creativity and accessibility By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
I
n Midvale, a sixth-grade girl curiously was examining the workings of Spheros, small, wheeled robots. In Murray, a junior high boy used wood, glue and string to craft a catapult. In South Jordan, an elementary-aged girl was looking forward to creating a 3D butterfly using Tinkercad. Makerspaces allow opportunities for hands-on making, creating, designing and innovating that bring individuals together in a variety of mediums, including robotics, textile crafts, woodcrafts and electronics. Commonly found at some libraries, museums, colleges and at the Utah STEM Action Center, the number of these spaces for open exploration have increased, especially in schools, which has given students equal access as well as gain skills in STEAM—science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. “Makerspaces need to be available and accessible,” said teacher Beth McKinney, who helped open the makerspace in Murray’s Hillcrest Junior High in an existing classroom this fall. “It’s important for kids to have a place where they can explore their own interests, talents, curiosities and have that experience on their own with the freedom to do it in a safe, controlled setting. Many students might not have the tools, the confidence or the opportunity to do so, so it’s important we have a safe space where any student can create and many learn best by doing, with their own hands.” Makerspaces are known as places where people, or “makers,” create, or “make,” projects using a variety of hands-on and digital tools. The junior high’s makerspace offers art supplies, robotics, a LEGO wall, 3D printing, K’NEX, speed and logic puzzles and more. Students opt to come to the space during an enrichment class period once per week as well as during the after-school program. Ninth-grader Allie Lobach likes coming to the makerspace. “It’s comfortable here; I’m free to make my own choices, but there’s help if I need it,” she said. The concept of makerspace is not new, according to Utah STEM Action Center’s director Tamara Goetz. “Makerspaces have been around a long time,” she said. “They were a place for people with common interests to tinker and build and that purpose still exists. What we’re seeing now is not a resuscitation of an old trend or fad of having a neighborhood tinkering spot in somebody’s garage. It’s become a way of learning and a way of thinking that is beginning to integrate how we teach kids and how we inspire kids. It’s the new way to do project-based learning; it’s maker learning, the idea of learning how to do a design process of iteration to create something to solve
Page 20 | January 2024
Hawthorn Academy students create snowflakes in Tinkercad during a December after-school 3D Design Club meeting. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
a problem that is important to you.” Goetz said there is an increased momentum around makerspaces. “Our future as a global economic leader depends on students having the ability to be innovative with technology,” she said. “Maker learning helps to build 21st century skills and helps students not just consume technology but develop it.” At Hawthorn Academy, a charter school in South Jordan, teacher Stephen Mesker said it’s those 21st century skills of identifying problems and finding solutions that is being taught in the school’s 3D Design Club, a precursor to what he hopes will evolve into a makerspace for its studentbody. “We teach them the skills, but the hope is to get everybody involved in STEM and get them prepared for future jobs,” he said. “Many manufacturing jobs now use 3D design and 3D printing and other makerspace
skills that we need to provide that education and opportunity to our students.” That is key Goetz said. “Makerspaces are more than just a bunch of equipment with no real intent. What’s important, particularly in schools, is to address how can the makerspace aligns and integrates into the mission of the school, more than just a place to tinker,” she said. “It also needs to adapt with the growth of the school.” Such was the case with the STEM Action Center, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. After moving out of an office downtown to its South Salt Lake location where space was provided as a solution to the many FIRST LEGO teams that needed a location to practice and build, the staff realized its potential when “a couple little girls would come by and knock on the window and ask what we were doing. That led us to realize there was a much greater potential space in
our community, so we established an open tinker time.” They also adapted during COVID-19, to check out activity kits to teachers, which helped them reach many more kids, Goetz said. That led to creating Pop-Up Maker Faires, which are brought into schools to provide free, hands-on STEM activities that students can bring home. The Center also awards grants, which help establish programming, innovation and makerspaces in schools. While Hawthorn, which purchased a dozen 3D printers from such a grant, began its club last year, others, like Channing Hall, a charter school in Draper, have been operating a makerspace for years and have incorporated lessons into the classroom. It was designated as a state platinum STEM school last spring. Goetz said that not all school maker-
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spaces are the same. “Some schools have maker carts, some set up in a library; it can take on different formats and versions, depending upon what schools want. Some schools have a designated makerspace. What we’re seeing is the number of schools are trying to figure out what to do with the library (with the pivot to more online materials) and makerspace is coming into the conversation more and more for those schools,” she said. In Canyon School District, some schools, such as Midvalley Elementary and the recently rebuilt Union Middle, have designated rooms as makerspaces, while Midvale Middle’s library is used as a makerspace during lunchtimes, at a time when it’s accessible to all students. “It started here because I like kids to be kids; I want them to know how to play with their hands, how to create and how to solve problems on their own,” teacher librarian/ media specialist Judy Rembacz said. “Makerspace teaches kids how to think. They are in the driving seat, being empowered and passionate about their own learning. They figure out how to create and if something goes wrong, how to make it work. They learn from failure and that’s a good thing. I also like how this connects them with their peers and with the school and that we’re giving this opportunity to all our students.” That is what teacher Wendie Nielson, at Bella Vista Elementary in Cottonwood Heights, wants students to discover. “They’re learning cooperation, collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving,” she said. “When something doesn’t work, they got to change their thought process to hopefully make it work the next time.” Fifth-grader Anna Armstrong was learning about coding using an Intelino smart train. “It’s going to help with my future; I’m seeing all the things I can do with coding,” she said. “I want to be an astronaut, so I’ll need to know a lot about computers and coding. In makerspace, there’s science and math and communication as we work on things together, but a lot of it is trying to figure it out on my own.” Bella Vista’s first-year principal Angi Holden already has seen an increase of STEAM learning at her school. “We offer STEAM enrichment with after-school programming, and we have our STEAM Fridays where students rotate every five weeks through lessons around engaging topics created by our teachers,” she said. “Our goal is to expand to become a STEM-designated school, so students are prepared for the workforce, beyond academics.” Preparing all students in STEAM education is the goal behind the grants received by Canyons School District’s Digital Teaching and Learning Specialist Chandra Martz, who was overseeing a family STEAM night at Midvale Elementary. When Martz was in high school, she remembers being the only female in a STEM class of 25 students.
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“It always bothered me, so I want to get more girls into STEM. Canyons’ goal is to get every student college and career ready, so we’re trying to do that through STEAM,” she said. “I want as many kids as possible to be able to see STEAM in their future. I want girls to be able to see that they can be engineers. I want children of color to see that they can get a job in the field that pays well. I feel a lot of people in some of our Canyons communities are working three jobs just to try to make ends meet. There are careers that their children can enter, and they can make $100,000 out of high school. I just want them to be able to see that this could be their future; this opportunity is for everyone.” Martz, and others, are rolling out family STEAM nights in elementary schools, where they bring in kits of 12 activities with challenges that tie into curriculum standards. “I love that they went through all the activities to align it in math and science standards,” Goetz said. “They have signs at each station so teachers know this challenge aligns to certain standards and they can take that back to the classroom to build off of it; and parents are given open-ended questions to ask to foster exploration with daily activities at home.” Those kits, which were first originated by Utah Valley University, then expanded on and provided by Utah STEM Action Center, are available statewide through its network that includes several state higher education institutions, independent makerspaces
and the Utah State Library Division. Jordan School District already has STEM activity tubs available for check-out to schools and Granite School District is creating its own set for more accessibility, Goetz said. At the recent Midvalley Elementary family STEM night, parent Brady Smith brought his first-grade daughter, Amelia. “I want her to stretch her mind in different ways in science and math and find the joy in learning and exploring through these cool activities,” he said. “I want her to have a mindset and a skill set that solves problems and thinks through things; I want her to be able to create and decipher.” Another part of Canyons’ program is establishing makerspaces with supplies in every middle school. Five of the eight schools already are in the process or have implemented makerspaces. STEAM squads are being introduced to elementaries and coding clubs will extend to middle schools next year. “The whole purpose of this grant is to give to students that may not have opportunity,” Martz said. “Some kids aren’t able to go to after-school programs, so we want to give opportunity.” That opportunity is extending to teacher training as well as Canyons’ teachers becoming STEM-endorsed, she said. In addition, the STEM Action Center offers workshops weekly for teacher professional development in technical expertise. “Teachers walk out with lesson plans that have been facilitated in the workshops
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and can incorporate what they’ve learned into their classrooms,” Goetz said. Canyons District Elementary STEM Specialist Cynthia Lloyd hopes that makes a difference. “With these resources, we’re hoping teachers use them with their curriculum,” she said. “We are noticing that kids are needing critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It’s not just STEAM. It’s also sitting down and reading informational text. They’re not getting what they need out of it. One of the best ways to get kids to learn is through these STEAM activities because they’re highly engaging; we can teach those literacy skills along with these problem-solving and critical thinking skills.” Goetz agrees. “Makerspaces nurture curiosity,” she said. “It’s a place to create, a place to learn to invent and design, and a place to fail and repeat. We learn from failures. We learn to work as teams, alongside other fellow makers, because we’re trying to solve problems together. Communication and organization are a big deal as is resilience. These skills can be incorporated into academic learning. This aligns to the standards and it’s cross-disciplinary. Makerspaces are a welcoming place for everyone to create and solve what is important to them. It’s what’s called ‘a low floor and a high ceiling’ so it provides a huge potential for growth in learning.” l
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A Bitter Pill
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’m at the point where each doctor visit starts with “Well, at your age…”. I need to get my liver rotated, my heart valves oiled, my lung filters changed and I need a lot of bodywork done. Nips and tucks won’t do it, I need parts replaced and a complete undercarriage overhaul. I’ve got 99 problems and the cost of health insurance counts for at least 90. When I found myself without health insurance at the end of last year, I jumped on Healthcare.gov to explore my “affordable” options. The site states that four out of five people can find a plan for $10 or less a month, after tax subsidies. What they don’t tell you is that the fifth person has to get a third job, sell organs on the black market or start printing money in the basement to afford a healthcare plan. As I scrolled through my health insurance options, I got irrationally angry. Plans started at around $500 per month, with deductibles ranging from $7,500 to Lamborghini. Keep in mind, this was for one person, not an entire family with pets and farm animals. Since I had to register by the middle of December, my email was flooded with reminders from the site. Have I registered? Why not? Did I forget? Did I become independently wealthy? Did I decide to use the money for something fun instead?
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