Hello! Thanks for visiting this blog to find out about what I have been doing and how I have been representing you as a Board Member. This new website and format is just the beginning of many exciting innovations in Canyons!

A few months ago we adopted the Strategic Plan for the district. This is an outline of goals for our schools and students. This past month we adopted Portrait of a Canyons Scholar. This focuses on 5 characteristics we hope to see from Canyons students.  We want them to be innovators, critical thinkers, resilient learners, impactful citizens, and collaborators.

The Strategic Plan will guide us as we find more opportunities for kids to connect in hands on, high quality, and collaborative learning.

I am part of the High-Quality Learning committee. This committee wrote the five characteristics and is committed to creating pathways to success for every type of learner. I have also met with department chairs about how to provide advanced learning opportunities for elementary and middle school kids.

Recently, I was able to meet with our Special Education Department and Business Administrator to ensure our special education students in the Accommodated Core Class would be able to stay at Willow Springs Elementary for two more years while we look at a strategic long-term plan. I hope to help these students establish a clean feeder pattern where they can move onto the same middle school as their peers.

I recently enjoyed watching the Unified Special Olympic basketball team take on Brighton High. It was a fun event and neat to see how everyone cheered on these brave kids! They did great!

I also just met with our Student Advisory Committee. We talked about their most interesting, engaging classroom experiences. Students are asking for less Chromebook time. And their classroom experience will be better!

Not to say that we don’t have awesome experiences in our schools! We certainly do! I just recently attended the career day at Corner Canyon and watched these high school students listen to two entrepreneurs. These Alta alumni started Dime Cosmetics. They have created a thriving, successful business.

A few weeks ago, I also had the opportunity to tour our CTE classes in Draper Park Middle School and Corner Canyon. I was blown away at all the fun things these kids get to do. I watched them program computer balls called spheroes to get into golf holes on mats. I also heard about a “Shark Tank” experience where the CEO of a successful company in California flies out to judge the competitions.

The tour ended at our CTEC campus. We have amazing programs there. I was talking to the cyber-security teacher who informed me our juniors are already being courted by cyber-security companies and offered six figure salaries! The only thing we need now is a nicer, newer space to house these programs.

Speaking of programs — our sports teams at Corner Canyon are nothing short of amazing. Congrats to our cheer team for winning nationals! Congrats to our basketball team for winning the 6A state championship! They will be playing in Washington, D.C., at a national tournament over spring break. Best of luck! Our track team is doing well and recently our drama department put on a fantastic dramatic play.

For a few years I have been having conversations about how to better meet the needs of our student athletes. Our soccer, lacrosse, baseball, and softball fields need improvement! That is a bit of an understatement. We have spent much time and money trying to take care of the water issues. I am happy to let you know field improvements at Corner Canyon are being discussed by the full board and a plan is being formed. We also know how difficult it is to schedule gym time. A field house is also in the plans.

Thank you for all the great support your family provides to our schools. Thank you for sending your amazing kids to our schools. Always know if you have any concerns or questions, you can email or call me. Thank you for letting me represent you!