FCCLA STATE
By: Logan Stevens and Marisa Mares
On March 19-21 Wayne High School Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) traveled to Layton, Utah to the State FCCLA Convention. For the past year Kristen Stephenson, a Senior at Wayne High, has been the President of State FCCLA. One of her responsibilities was to conduct the meetings and with her State Board plan the event. Through her outstanding planning and leadership skills the State Convention was well run and organized. Also attending the convention were Wayne High School's FCCLA Officers: Vanessa Barlow, Jaden Blackburn, Miriam James, West Saunders, Logan Stevens, and Marisa Mares.
On March 20 the competition started and the fun really began. At 7:30 am, all officers collected for breakfast which was provided by FCCLA through the Hilton Garden Inn, and then they signed into their categories and received their competing time. Vanessa and Jaden competed in Focus on Children with a project titled "Spark Quad." Their project was on an after-school program for kids to learn about cultural heritage. Logan and Marisa competed in Chapter Service Project Display, doing The Caps and Gowns collection project for seniors that chose not to purchase or couldn't afford a cap and gown. Miriam and West competed in Life Event Planning with their project titled "A Trip Back in Time." This project was about the planning process of the 2016-2017 '50's themed Preference Dance. After competition was over and a closing ceremony everyone was done for the day and was released for dinner but urged to be back for the dance, bouncy house, and karaoke that ended the night.
On the last day of the event was the award ceremony and during the ceremony all members of Wayne High School's FCCLA received a silver in their categories. It was also announced that Jaden Blackburn received the position of Utah State Vice President of Community Service for the 2018-2019 year, and will be attending Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia. Overall state FCCLA was a blast to attend. We are proud of the four State officers from Wayne High in the last six years. In recognition of dedication to FFCLA and her outstanding leadership, Mrs. Taft received the Master Advisor award. Thank you, Mrs. Taft, for your support of us and all of the FCCLA members that have gone before us.
At the end of the event Kristen handed over her position to the next State FCCLA President. We are proud of the work she accomplished and the fine way she represented our State and our school. Thank you, Kristen.
The Forty-Sixth Annual Awards Ceremony for Central Utah Sterling Scholars, was held at Richfield High School Auditorium on the evening of Thursday March 15th. Deseret News and KSL Broadcast Group developed the Sterling Scholars Program specifically to focus attention on outstanding seniors in order to recognize them publicly as well as award cash scholarships and tuition waivers from participating institutions. The Sterling Scholar Awards Program seeks to commend and encourage excellence among all nominees. All nominees are judged equally on the basis of scholastic achievement without regard to religion, sex, political preference or national origin.
Each year the legislature spends 2 months working on legislation to help improve the State of Utah. While in session many individuals and groups provide information to our Senators and Representatives. One opportunity our school districts have to provide information to our legislators is the District Day on the Hill. On this day districts had an opportunity to showcase some of the great things occurring in our district public schools. This year the District Day on the Hill was February 23rd. Wayne School District participated in the District Day on the Hill. Wayne School District was one of 13 districts that had a table display in the Capitol rotunda. Wayne’s display showed their use of 1 to 1 student computer devises, integration of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) into their curriculum, their outstanding graduation rate and the amount of money their graduates are receiving in scholarships for post-secondary schools. In addition to the table display, Wayne High School band and choir entertained the Capitol with a concert. Despite a snow storm, the Choir and Band drove up to the Capitol for their concert. Joni Taft started with the choir singing 4 songs to the delight of the whole building. Following the Choir, Lori Chappell directed the band with a rendition of 4 more songs. 
Following the songs, the choir and band were able to watch the house of representatives’ debate and pass bills. This was a great opportunity that was made possible by the outstanding students of the Wayne High School Band and Choir. Thank you, Joni and Lori, for what you are doing for our kids.
The National Honor Society (NHS) is alive and well at Wayne High School. The NHS is a nationwide organization for high school students in the United States and is commonly active preparing students for higher education, planning and community service activities both in the community and at the school. Nikki Stringham is the advisor of the Wayne High School Chapter of the NHS. She has been working with the Society members to plan and execute community service events that benefit people in the community, county and throughout the state. The NHS spent the month of January collecting board games for the Ronald McDonald House in Salt Lake City. The Ronald McDonald House is a nonprofit charity that gives the families of ill children a place to stay while their children undergo treatment at Intermountain Hospitals. Once the students collected the games, they had a "game night" with treats and prizes at the high school. We'd like to thank Kate Chappell for this great idea! She picked up and delivered the 15 games the NHS collected to the Ronald McDonald House in Salt Lake City. Wayne High School Chapter of the National Honor Society is amazing!
Friday was Groundhog Day and in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the groundhog saw his shadow. Tradition says that we are in store for 6 more weeks of winter. In Hanksville, the students are also learning about shadows and how the weather effects seeing a shadow. The eager students learned that the sun and clouds effect the ability of the groundhog to see its shadow. In a (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) activity, the kids were assigned to measurement how the light from a flashlight effects a groundhog shadow. The students were given a paper groundhog and then measured the length of the shadow and compared it to the distance from the wall and the flashlight. They then moved the lights and created different shadow effects and measured the distance between the groundhog and the wall. The students then discussed the different forces in place that made the shape of the shadow change. This was a great learning experience that helped the students learn how to collect data through measuring the distances between the ground hog, shadow and light source.
On January 26th, Wayne Middle School had an assembly on making good choices and the danger of addiction. Will Ferguson was our presenter and he stressed the importance of school and making good choices. He used examples from his life. He is a former football player that became addicted to pain medication after a sports injury. He emphasized the dangers of all types of addiction. Will includes specific dangers from prescription drugs, alcohol and marijuana. He spoke plainly to the students by telling them that if you have a friend how is starting to experiment with drugs that you should tell a responsible adult. Will stated that, “Friends help friends stay away from drugs.” Mr. Ferguson explained that by starting with any dangerous substance there is tendency for use to grow until you cannot stop. There are also statistics that show there is a higher rate of addiction when a user starts in their teen age years. He then discussed the student’s futures and their dreams. Will asked several students about their dreams and what they would like to be. He told the students that they would not be able to fulfill their dreams if they do drugs. He reminded the students that time lost during an addiction can never come back. After discussing the dangers of addition and drugs, he told the students the importance of having good friends. Finally, Will reminded the students that they should hang out with good people because they will help you do good things, and that they should not hang out with bad people because they push you into doing bad things. After the conclusion Lance Peterson emphasized the points that Mr. Ferguson made and then talked about character, the importance of making good choices and having positive relationships. This was a positive experience for the students and made an impact.
On December 20, 2017, the students at Hanksville Elementary did a fun and timely STEM activity. The activity was centered around recycling (clean) trash and building toys that they could give to their brothers and sisters for Christmas. The theme was from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss. Their prompt for the activity was, “When the Grinch came to Whoville, he took everything, including the kids' toys. There were a lot of toys in Whoville!! There were Flung-Floopers and Who-Wunkers. Design a toy sure to sure to make any child in Whoville smile.”