Eagle News 4/20/2020

As we enter week five of the school closure, and after hearing last week from Governor Herbert that Utah schools will remain closed for the remainder of the school year, I’m sure there have been challenges at home as you encourage and help your students with their school work.

I have two daughters who received their teaching degrees and taught at the elementary and high school level before choosing to stay home with their children. And even these trained teachers have told me of the challenges they are facing helping their children with at-home learning. Our six-year-old grandson, Easton, told his mother this past week, a lady who taught at Provo High School for five years, that she was not as good of a teacher as his kindergarten teacher at Brookhaven Elementary in Eagle Mountain. Ah, the unexpected collateral damage of COVID-19!

I have attached a visual collage of the Alpine Elementary Staff telling our students how much we miss them. Thank you to our Social Committee of Mrs. Chen, Ms. Johnson, Ms. Lizzy (Snyder), and Mrs. Weakley for taking the time to assemble this awesome collage. You have one guess as to which staff member had the plainest most ordinary sign.

And because we miss our students so much, our staff is going to do a drive-through car parade in city of Alpine neighborhoods on Wednesday, April 22. The parade will start at the school at 10:00 am. I will send all parents a parade route on Tuesday, April 21. We are encouraging parents who live out of boundary, or will not have the parade passing by their homes, to park their vehicles at the school, Creekside Park or somewhere that the car parade is passing to wave and say hello to our staff, while observing social distancing guidelines. You will be getting more details about the parade on Tuesday.

After conferring with students who signed up to participate in Battle of the Books, Mrs. Ruesch and the students have decided to do a virtual Battle of the Books  May 4 – 8.

Each student will receive an email invite with a link to join their battle. Each team will participate in one battle. The top eight scoring teams will battle again to determine the top two scoring teams. Those teams will compete in one more battle for 1st and 2nd place. Any student who does not want to participate is not obligated. Please contact Mrs. Ruesch at [email protected] if you have any questions.

The Alpine Eagles Running Club will continue through May 22. Parents can email weekly miles ran to Colleen Hodgkinson at [email protected].

If you have questions or concerns about your student’s online learning expectations, please communicate with your child’s teacher.

Outside the Principal’s Office.

On April 19, 1980, I made the most important and best decision of my life when I married Laura Lynne Call in the Salt Lake City Temple. COVID-19 put the kibosh on our Spring Break plans to travel to Hawaii, but my ever-creative wife had a surprise anniversary date planned for us on Saturday, April 18. We took a daylong trip down memory lane visiting all of the important locations in Provo and surrounding areas that were a part of our courtship. We went to her student housing apartment (was Pinveview, now Glenwood Apartments), special spots on the BYU campus, Wendy’s on State Street in Orem, Bridal Veil Falls, Sundance Canyon, Lavell Edwards Stadium (it was Cougar Stadium in 1980), and of course the temple in SLC. At each spot, and they all have stories that I don’t have time to share, we took selfies (Laura has aged much more kindly than I have in 40 years), and did some journaling about our memories of that specific time and location. We will share the photos and journal entries with our children and grandchildren, hopefully, giving them something to smile about while being homebound because of COVID-19. It was one of the best dates we have ever had, even in this socially-distanced world!

Have a great week, and as always, remember that it is a great day to be an Eagle!