It was a delivery befitting the winter season. However, hundreds of snowballs recently given to Kauri Sue Hamilton students were of the warm variety. Students enrolled in the Jordan Virtual Learning Academy (JVLA) hand-made the snowballs out of yarn. It was part of a service project to bring joy to the lives of others.

The yarn puffballs (snowballs) are for students who have physical challenges, which may keep them from going outside to make and enjoy some fun with snowballs. The puffball snowballs can be used for winter games inside the school.

Thanks to all of the JVLA students and staff for taking the time to bring smiles to others over the long winter months.

Mountain Ridge High School hosted this year’s Chinese Language Fair and it was a fun-filled night of music, storytelling, art, and live performances. Superintendent Anthony Godfrey, joined the celebration and participated in Chinese chess, paper cutting, and Chinese calligraphy.

Both parents and students in Jordan School District loved the event and exciting activities. Ruthann Hook said, “It was so amazing! Words can’t describe how cool this experience was to see all the cool activities my kids have learned and studied for years!” Sarah Wrigley add, “I thought the Chinese Fair was a lot of fun. My kids enjoyed it. I especially loved the performances from the students.”

Students of all ages from a variety of schools in Jordan School District competed in language competitions, including conversation skills, storytelling, an art display, speech, and live performances. Both parents and students also participated in Chinese chess, chopstick competitions, Chinese calligraphy, a Hanfu Display, and many others. Live Performances and awards finished off the night, including amazing songs on the guzheng, kung fu skills, many songs and dances, and even a colorful Chinese Face Changing Opera Display.

The following are first places winners in the different competitions:

• Conversation Skills: Jolene Gordet, 3rd grade, Foothills Elementary
• Story Telling: Heidi Gounaris, (Elementary)
  Sophia Rosevear, 8th grade, South Jordan Middle School
• Art Display: Sky Symond, 9th grade, South Hills Middle School
• Live Performance: Amy Gao and Ashton Lee
• Speech: Emily Dow, 11th grade, Mountain Ridge High School
• Best Organization: Southland Elementary 1st grade (Mrs. Li Xu) and 3rd grade (Mrs. Lay Kou)
• Distinguished Teacher Award: Lay Kou, 3rd grade Chinese teacher

The Chinese Language Fair, and other events like it, help students in our district, and those in our community as a whole, have a broader knowledge of the world around them. Through the event, Chinese students were proud to share a portion of Chinese culture with everyone who attended.

A special thanks to Emily Dow and Trevor Romrell for this story.

Scheels in Sandy is proving how much they care about the community, including students, teachers, and education. The retailer participated in the Sheel’s Day of Giving and students along with teachers in Jordan School District will benefit from their giving spirit. Sheel’s recently presented the Jordan Education Foundation with a check from their Day of Giving in the amount of $2,500.00. The money will be used to support classroom grants throughout the District.

Thank you to Sheels for caring about the community and supporting education.

Congratulations to the JATC Web Development Program, the amazing students, and their teacher Melinda Mansouri. The program is a State finalist in the prestigious Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition and is now in the running to win up to $100,000 in prizes.

Each year, Samsung hosts a $2 million national competition for public schools, grades 6–12, where students are asked to consider how science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) can be used to create change in their communities. Not only can students apply to the contest and compete to win up to $100,000 in prizes for their school, they have the opportunity to work with Samsung employees to develop their prototypes.

As part of the competition, the JATC students are developing an app, which they hope can help improve student safety at school, focusing on disaster protocol, and enhancing the safety and execution of disaster response. The app would help to locate students in the school building in case of an emergency.

Team Leaders for JATC’s Web Development Program are Aiden Maher and Jacob Crook, along with team members Lan-Vi Cao, Amanda Bueno Leiva, Jaxon Smith, and Dalton Britton.

Best of luck in the competition and on your amazing work in the classroom!