The Uintah School Board held its regularly scheduled work session and business meeting, as well as the district’s annual Impact Aid meeting, on Wednesday at Eagle View Elementary. Video of all three meetings can be found on the district’s YouTube channel.
The board was honored to have the Red Spirit Singers participate in the flag ceremony at the start of the Impact Aid meeting, along with Miss Eagle View Elementary Noelani Ladd, Miss Lapoint Elementary Caide George, Miss Centennial Elementary Peyton Santio, Miss Roosevelt Junior High Shaycee Murray, and UBIC Native American Queen Emma Kanip. The board and district are grateful to those who participated in the meeting and appreciates the community’s input following the presentations by Lapoint Principal Emily Arnold and Eagle View Principal Chris Jones.
During the business meeting, the board celebrated the district’s students of the month for November 2024. The students are: Kalliope Sullivan (Central Cove Preschool); Jacob Pettey (Ashley Elementary School); Emilie Ogle (Davis Elementary School); Nixon Draper (Discovery Elementary School); Yhamileth Rojas (Eagle View Elementary School); Ember Justice (Lapoint Elementary School); Brielle Bell (Maeser Elementary School); Rose Betts (Naples Elementary School); Victoria Collett (Uintah Middle School); Baylee Vigil (Vernal Middle School); Lily Carlson (Uintah High School); Maggie McNichols (Ashley Valley Education Center/Uintah Online).
Congratulations to these outstanding students and thanks to everyone who supports them!
UHS Class of ’69 Donation
The school board was also presented with a $19,000 donation from the Uintah High Class of 1969 during Wednesday night’s business meeting. The class donated the money toward furnishing study rooms in the new UHS Teen Center, which is under construction in the high school’s V Hall.
Uintah High alums Rosa Millecam Eaton, Vickie Wall Wilkins, Lonnie Edrington Hadlock, Deb Richens Smith, Doug Barlow, Steve Hall, Pat Wilkins Roden, Ray Nash, and Vernie Heeney presented the donation to the board on behalf of their class.
The Class of ’69 is challenging other Uintah High classes to donate money to support district programs, Heeney said. Donations made through the Uintah Schools Foundation, which is a 501c3, are tax deductible, she said.
The UHS Teen Center is slated to open in late January. It will be staffed by a full-time employee who is already working in another capacity at the high school. It will be open and staffed before, during, and after school.
The Teen Center will have laundry facilities and private showers for UHS students who need them. Students can also use the designated study spaces to work on school assignments. The food pantry will provide nutritious snacks and meals for any UHS student who may not have consistent access to food at home.
The district received $250,000 in grant money for the UHS Teen Center from the state of Utah, as well as a grant for $40,000 in matching funds from The Policy Project, a Utah-based nonprofit, non-partisan organization. VCBO Architecture is waiving a portion of its fees for the project as well. The balance of the renovation is being paid for with money the district already has in its savings for capital projects.
Wellness Summit at UMS
Uintah Middle School will host its annual Family and Community Wellness Summit on Monday, Nov. 18. Admission is FREE. This year’s event features booths from local groups, breakout sessions covering a variety of wellness topics, and a food donation spot for the Great Middle School Food Fight. Booths open at 5:30 p.m. and breakout sessions start at 6 p.m. Every attendee will be entered to win a Family Fun Night Basket and there will be other drawings and refreshments throughout the night.
Celebrations
Congratulations to the Uintah High School Hope Squad! They are one of four school clubs or teams to be honored this week by First Lady Abby Cox and Utah Jazz owner Ashley Smith for their work in the 2024 Show Up Service High School Challenge.
Earlier this year, Cox and Smith encouraged high school teams and clubs across Utah to complete a service project in the fall. After completing the service project, the teams and clubs submitted their project at showuputah.org/service and post it to social media. Teams and clubs who participated could be selected to attend a Jazz game as special guests of Cox and Smith.
For their project, the UHS Hope Squad helped with the “Out of Darkness” suicide prevention walk in Vernal on Sept. 21. They arrived before the walk to set up signs, set out suicide prevention information, and help participants as they arrived. Hope Squad members also passed out honor beads – beads of different colors that represent groups of people who have lost loved ones to suicide or who have struggled with suicidal thoughts themselves – throughout the event. After the walk, members helped cleaned up.
Hope Squad advisor Rachelle Durrant submitted the project to Show Up Utah and was notified recently that her students had been selected to attend the Jazz game, have dinner on the top floor of the Delta Center, and meet with Cox and Smith before the game. UHS Hope Squad officers were honored as well as on the court during the third quarter of the game. There were more than 40 schools that submitted projects as part of the challenge, Durrant said.
Outstanding job, Utes!