alpineweb

During these unprecedented and uncertain times, I find strength and a sense of assurance in the consistency of nature. As I see trees bloom, grass turn green, weeds popup where not invited, and newborn lambs and calves calling out for their mothers in surrounding farmland, I am reminded that though much has changed in our lives, many things stay the same.

We should all have shouted hooray when on Friday, Governor Herbert, moved most of the state from a moderate (orange) to a low-risk (yellow) level for COVID-19 precautionary measures. You have to check ahead of time, but there are restaurants and other public places that are open to the public. We are making progress!

This will be a busy week:

Elder—9:00 – 10:00 am

M. Moore—10:00 – 11:00 am

Chen—11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Duke—12:30 – 1:30 pm

Parents of the award winners should have already been notified. The awards will be given out in front of the school.

Last week we told you that Chromebooks could be returned on May 19, 20 and 21. We have changed the return time to Tuesday and Wednesday. Please use the east roundabout to return Chromebooks. We will have staff members in the roundabout giving you directions.

Please completely charge the battery before returning the Chromebook.

Wipe down the power cord and all surfaces (including the screen) with a Clorox wipe. When you pull up a staff member will check the condition of the Chromebook and ask you to power it up.

If you have any questions, please contact Jaime Clement, the computer teacher.

Some parents are under the mistaken impression that school ends on May 12. Though that is the last day new online instruction, please know that May 13 – 22 will be used for review, interventions, assessment, and extensions. Your child’s teacher will be communicating with parents what will be happening with remote instruction for the last two weeks of school.

And though new online instruction concluded on May 12, we are still serving Grab and Go Meals. Our meal distribution numbers were down last week. Perhaps because parents thought meals weren’t being handed out after May 12.The final three days of Grab and Go Meals, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm, will be :

This week we will have boxes in front of the school for Box Tops, Take Home Reading and Library Books. Thank you for turning in these important items!

Outside the Principal’s Office.

I truly appreciate all the well-wishes that have come my way since my April 20 road biking accident. And though my wife and children are somewhat hesitant for me to resume riding up and down mountains, I have zero trepidation, and have been looking forward to rides more challenging than the Murdock Trail, the only place my wife has allowed me to bike for the past week that I have been riding once again. On Saturday, I rode from my home in Cedar Hills to the top of Suncrest and back. A doctor could not have prescribed a better post-accident activity for me. It was a joyous and glorious day back in the saddle! Alpine Loop next Saturday!

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

I hope you all had an enjoyable Mother’s Day. For those of you who are mothers, a child’s card, homemade breakfast, or sincere expression of love can make the challenges of entering week eight of homeschooling worth all of the time and effort.

Thank you to our librarian, Paula Ruesch, and her aide, Janece Thompson, for enabling our students to do Battle of the Books last week remotely. It was no small feat to organize and stage the battles. Our students were recognized for all of the reading they have done, and the BOB teams had fun in the activities facilitated by Paula and Janece. Thank you ladies! We congratulate all of the student participants! Here are the winning teams:

Ella Packer, Emily Tomkinson, Abbie Frazier, Maren Kofford & Dani Reynolds

Olivia Snow, McKinlay Cluff & Malyssa Moore

1st Place – Glitter Girls
Lillian Hsiao, Ruby Jones, Adrienne Bodily, Bailey Braden & Mollie Otis

Timmy Lyon, Tommy Lyon, Connor Hertig & Grady Zito

Brody Burr, Jacob Smith, Jane Rasmussen, Logan Sterzer & Alex Orgil

Anna Packer, Skylee Gunn, Zachary Fugal

As we all deal with school closures as a result of COVID-19, it would only make sense to cancel Staff Appreciation Week. But our incredible PTA went above and beyond to recognize our staff for all the great work they are doing. We all received an Amazon gift certificate and a cookie shaped like a bottle of hand sanitizer. How creative and cool is that? Additionally, several parents had gifts for staff members. I know I speak for our entire staff when I say thank you to our PTA and all of the parents who gave a gift to a staff member. We are grateful for your kindness and generosity for Staff Appreciation Week.

Some parents are under the mistaken impression that school ends on May 12. Though that is the last day new online instruction, please know that May 13 – 22 will be used for review, interventions, assessment, and extensions. Your child’s teacher will be communicating with parents what will be happening with remote instruction for the last two weeks of school.

We received quite a few Take Home Reading materials last week in the box that was placed in front of the school, but there are still Take Home Reading supplies in homes that need to be returned. Once again, a return box will be in front of the school all of this week.

Where: Northeast parking roundabout in front of the school

No appointment necessary – come anytime between 10:00 and 1:00.

Please completely charge the battery before you return it.

Wipe down the power cord and all surfaces (including the screen) with a Clorox wipe.

When you pull up a staff member will check the condition of the Chromebook and ask you to power it up.

If you have any questions, please contact Jaime Clement, the computer teacher.

Outside the Principal’s Office.

April 20 was when I had my bike accident. On Saturday, May 9 I went on my first bike ride since the accident, a 30-mile ride up to Vivian Park. I was chastised by my wife for going further than I was supposed to go. Though I have lost a lot of my fitness, it felt good to be back in the saddle again.

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

May has finally arrived! Is it just me, or did April seem like a long month? The month of April and the last two weeks of March are a time none of us will ever forget as we all deal with the effects of a worldwide pandemic. We are doing school in a different way, but I draw strength and optimism from the way our faculty and entire Alpine Elementary Community have responded in these unprecedented times. Continue to press forward!

If you want to make a teacher request for the 2020 – 2021 school year, you need to fill out the attached form, put the request in a sealed envelope, and put the envelope in the box that will be in front of the school, 9:00 – 12:00 pm, Monday – Friday, May 4 – 8.

There is also a box in front of the school for the return of all Take Home Reading materials. Please put the name of your student’s teacher on the Take Home Reading envelopes and baggies before returning them to the school. We need these materials returned ASAP. Thank you!

Our librarian, Mrs. Ruesch sends the following information about Battle of the Books that will be taking place this week, May 4 – 8.

All students who signed up to participate in Battle of the Books will receive an email from Mrs. Ruesch with the date, time and Google Meet link for their battle.

May 4 – 5th/6th Grade Battles

May 5 – 3rd/4th Grade Battles

May 6 – Top scoring teams will be posted on the library website. https://sites.google.com/alpinedistrict.org/alpineelementarylibrary/home If your student’s team is listed, they will receive an email from Mrs. Ruesch with the date, time and Google Meet link for their battle in the semi-finals.

May 7 – Semi-Final Battles Finalists will be posted on the library website after 4:00 pm. If your student’s team is listed, they will receive an email from Mrs. Ruesch with the date, time and Google Meet link for their battle in the finals.

May 8 – Final Battles for 1st and 2nd place
Final results will be posted on the library website after 1:00 pm.

Good luck to all our awesome readers, and feel free to contact Mrs. Ruesch at [email protected] if you have questions.

Outside the Principal’s Office.

Even as our world has changed as we all deal with the effects of COVID-19, life goes on. Births, deaths and weddings continue to take place with much smaller gatherings of people. Haley Faux, a former teacher aide at Alpine Elementary, and the daughter of first grade teacher, Mrs. Faux, was married on May 2 before a small gathering of immediate family in the American Fork Canyon. Life goes on!

Four of our five children are building houses, starting new employment or moving to another state in the next month. It is almost as if our children, and many others throughout the world, are saying, “You have changed my life in many ways COVID-19, but I will not allow you to derail my life goals and dreams.”

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

The Alpine Elementary staff thought the April 22 parade through Alpine neighborhoods was a great success. As we all deal with a Groundhog Day Mentality of all the days seeming to be a repeat of the previous day, the parade was a nice change of pace and lifted the spirits of our staff in multiple ways. Thank you to the students and parents who cheered us on as we drove the parade route!

I am attaching a letter that all parents should have received last week from the Alpine School District informing you of important end-school-year dates.

Mrs. Ruesch sends the following information about Battle of the Books:

Battle of the Books Virtual Competition – May 4th-8th

All students who signed up to participate in Battle of the Books will receive an email from Mrs. Ruesch with the date, time and Google Meet link for their battle.

May 4 – 5th/6th Grade Battles

May 5 – 3rd/4th Grade Battles

May 6 – Top scoring teams will be posted on the library website. https://sites.google.com/alpinedistrict.org/alpineelementarylibrary/home If your student’s team is listed, they will receive an email from Mrs. Ruesch with the date, time and Google Meet link for their battle in the semi-finals.

May 7 – Semi-Final Battles Finalists will be posted on the library website after 4:00 pm. If your student’s team is listed, they will receive an email from Mrs. Ruesch with the date, time and Google Meet link for their battle in the finals.

May 8 – Final Battles for 1st and 2nd place
Final results will be posted on the library website after 1:00 pm.

Good luck to all our awesome readers, and feel free to contact Mrs. Ruesch at [email protected] if you have questions.

Outside the Principal’s Office.

I continue to deal with the after-effects of my April 20 bike accident. The road rash which covers all of my appendages heals with each passing day. The post concussive issues are my biggest challenges now. I still have blurred vision, headaches, drowsiness, and a general sense of a pervading brain fog encompassing me. Thank you for all of the well wishes. I hope to emerge from my current state of being in the coming days. Though I have no memory of my accident a week ago, one of our former parents posted the following on Facebook last Monday night:

Please don’t be alarmed by this post, I feel very fortunate to have only spent one night in the hospital and the mental fog caused by the concussion dissipates more and more with each passing day. I will be back in the saddle soon!

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

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!

I hope that all of the Alpine Elementary Community had a relaxing and healthy Spring Break. As we all do our best to follow social distancing guidelines, I am guessing your Spring Break was different from what you envisioned two months ago.

The Alpine School District recommends the following online homework guidelines for elementary age students:

K-3: 1-2 hours daily

4-6: 2-4 hour daily

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

The Alpine School District is encouraging all employees, if possible, to work from home. Consequently, the main office will be closed until COVID-19 social distancing restrictions are lifted. Phone calls to the office will be forwarded to Office Assistant, Sheri Davis’s cell phone, enabling her to work from home.

We will continue to distribute free meals, both a breakfast and a lunch bag, Monday – Friday, 9:30 – 11:00 am, to all students in the Alpine School District. Alpine School District students can pick up free meals at any Alpine School District school. We have Chinese Immersion parents who live in other communities and transport their children to Alpine Elementary. Your student can get a free meal at the school closest to where you live, without having to travel to Alpine Elementary.

Congratulations on helping your students reach our school goal in the Million Minute Reading Marathon. Students reading for a million minutes is an incredible accomplishment!

Our school Social Worker, Gina Zupan ([email protected]), is available to meet with students remotely who are experiencing any mental health issues during these unprecedented times.

Alpine Elementary continues to receive 20% of the proceeds from Chick-Fil-A on designated Spirit Nights. And Monday, April 13 is the next Spirt Night at the Lehi-Pointe location.

Outside the Principal’s Office.

A 40-year wedding anniversary is milestone to be celebrated. Four decades ago, Laura and I were married in Salt Lake City after completing what seemed like a never-ending semester at BYU. We had planned on taking our first trip to Hawaii during Spring Break to celebrate the best 40 years of my life! (You would have to ask my wife if she agrees with that statement.) Needless to say, COVID-19 postponed those travel plans, but I was able to get some yardwork done, go on daily bike rides and spend uninterrupted time with my best friend over the break. Not Maui-like fun, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Undoubtedly, our new normal caused many of you to alter your original Spring Break plans as well. If you and your family continue to enjoy good health, and you are surrounded by those that you love, offer a prayer of gratitude and continue to press forward!

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

Remember when Governor Herbert announced a “soft school closure” on March 13? Although he didn’t use the phrase “hard school closure” last week when he announced that all Utah schools would be closed until May 1, I think we have transitioned out of the “soft closure” phase.

Last week the Alpine School District made the decision to close all schools to the public, meaning that parents and/or students will no longer be allowed to come into any ASD school.

We will continue to distribute free meals, both a breakfast and a lunch bag, Monday – Friday, 9:30 – 11:00 am, to all students in the Alpine School District. Alpine School District students can pick up free meals at any Alpine School District school. I know we have Chinese Immersion parents who live in other communities and transport their children to Alpine Elementary. Your student can get a free meal at the school closest to where you live, without having to travel to Alpine Elementary.

April 6 – 10 will be our Spring Break. Online instruction will not be offered during Spring Break, and there will be no meal distribution.

During these uncertain and unprecedented times, we did receive some good news  last week. Alpine Elementary will have a half-time counselor next year. We are able to hire a counselor that will be split between our school and Westfield Elementary because of the Teacher Student and Success Act (TSSA). The Alpine School District, with School Community Council approval, has made the decision to spend TSSA funds on helping our students with their Social and Emotional Well-Being. Having worked with a full-time school counselor while I was a principal in Oregon, I am confident that a half-time counselor will be a great asset to our school!

You know your children better than anyone. Though we do encourage you to schedule “school time” each day, there is certainly no expectation to have students doing school work for six hours a day. We apologize for all the emails coming your way, but teachers need to communicate with your students. If you have questions or concerns about the online learning expectations, please communicate with your child’s teacher.

As we enter week three of the school closure, we encourage all parents and students to follow al social distancing guidelines.

Outside the Principal’s Office.

Are the days starting to blur together for you? During this school closure time, I sometimes have to ask myself what day of the week it is. Friday night date night for Laura and me has certainly changed as we decide what restaurant drive-through we want to experience, and then ask ourselves is there anything on Netflix we want to watch. This past Friday night, the choice was Cubby’s. It took us 42 minutes from the time we got into the long line of cars until we received our food. The line at Chick-Fil-A across the parking lot was even longer! COVID-19 has changed all of our lives in multiple ways!

Laura and I had an anniversary trip to Hawaii planned for Spring Break. That obviously won’t be happening. We will celebrate quietly at home grateful for the good health we continue to enjoy.

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

We enter week two of remote online learning and the never-ending tentacles of COVID-19. Can you believe how quickly our lives have changed in the past 10 days? This pandemic is impacting almost every facet of our everyday lives, including the way we do school. These are truly unprecedented times. Add an earthquake to the equation, and our world has literally been rocked, in more ways than one! Adversity and life challenges can bring out the best and the worst in people. And I have seen only the best from the Alpine Elementary faculty as they quickly mobilized to provide online instruction for your students. I am so proud and appreciative of the diligent efforts of our staff as they have quickly and without complaint figured out how to do school in a new way.

You know your children better than anyone. Though we do encourage you to schedule “school time” each day, there is certainly no expectation to have students doing school work for six hours a day. We apologize for all the emails coming your way, but teachers need to communicate with your students. If you have questions or concerns about the online learning expectations, please communicate with your child’s teacher. This online learning model is a work in progress.

I have attached flyers for a State of Utah Spirit Week that you and your children can participate in that will perhaps bring some joy and laughter to your homeschooling experience.

The big question is how long will the schools be closed. Over the weekend, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Sidnee Dickson, shared the following with Utah school leaders:

So parents only have to make one trip to the school, starting on Monday March 23, students can pick up a breakfast and lunch meal at the same time, 8:30 – 11:00 am, at the table set up by Nutrition Services by our front door. This meal service is provided to all students in the Alpine School District, including middle and high school students, free of charge. You can send your child or children to the school to pick up meals without a parent accompanying the student.

Please only send one student into the school to pick up meals so that we can follow social distancing protocols of no more than 10 people in a group, while maintaining a six foot distance between all individuals.

Also starting on Monday, our office will only be open 8:00 am – 12:00 pm.

This state was founded by a people, ancestors to some of you, who faced difficult challenges both in their migration west and in settling communities along the Wasatch Front. Faith and hard work enabled them to overcome the many trials they encountered. Those same attributes will enable us to successfully overcome all that this pandemic requires us to navigate. We will make it through these challenging times!

Outside the Principal’s Office.

Faith, family and exercise are my anchors during difficult times. All five of our children, their spouses and our grandchildren, like all Americans and people across the globe, have been impacted by COVID-19. Laura and I choose to be optimistic about future outcomes, even when there are questions about the health, job security and financial obligations of our family. Three times last week, I biked up to Pine Hollow Trail Head in American Fork Canyon, which is where the gate is locked and snowpack begins. As I pedaled up the mountain, I repeatedly said to myself, “Lead your family and school in love, faith and calm assurance that these trying times will make us all stronger, and that these difficult days will pass.” I truly believe that mantra!

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

I usually send out the Eagle News on Monday morning, but with the announcement on Friday by Governor Herbert that we will have a two-week “soft closure” of schools in the state, I wanted to communicate with parents what that means for our students at Alpine Elementary.

Teachers will be receiving training on Monday and Tuesday, March 16 and 17, on how to best provide online instruction to students. Teachers will communicate to parents before 4:00 pm on Tuesday what the online learning expectations are for students in their classes.

Parents will need to determine if they have sufficient devices at home to accommodate the teacher’s online learning expectations. Chromebooks grades 3 – 6, or iPads grades K – 2, can be checked out from the school. Your child’s teacher will tell you how that process is going to work.

The Alpine Elementary office will be open 8:30 am – 3:30 pm each school day during the two-week closure.

The school will be providing daily “Grab and Go” breakfast, 8:00 – 9:00 am, and lunch, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm for all students who want to come to the school grab a meal and leave. As “Grab and Go” plainly states, the meals will not be eaten at the school.

This is definitely a new way of doing school, but when the World Health Organization announces that COVID-19 is a worldwide pandemic that has swept into 114 countries, we all need to take the necessary precautions.

Whether or not the school closures extend beyond two weeks will be determined by Governor Herbert and those leaders on his team as they receive updated health information from medical experts.

If there are families in need of food or basic household necessities, please let me know. There are community resources available to those in need. If you or your children need something, we can help!

Battle of the Books competitions have been postponed but will rescheduled, meaning students will have more time to read their books, an excellent learning opportunity during the school closure!

Briggs Ballif–4th Grade, Mrs. Vipperman

Outside the Principal’s Office.

Yesterday, Laura and I went to see “Seussical” at the Hale Theater in Orem where one of our former students had one of the lead roles as he portrayed Horton the Elephant. A delightful performance! I continue to ride my bike and eat at my favorite restaurants. First time since my volunteer service in Guatemala 40 years ago, that I have not been watching any sporting events on TV on a March weekend. Amazing how much time I now have to do other things! And this morning, Laura and I had our own church services, which was truly a spiritual experience! Don’t know if I would be able to say the same thing when we had all five of our children at home. In short, I make daily life choices that bring me and my family joy and fulfillment, and encourage all of our parents to do the same. And I have not been to “ground zero”, the paper products aisle at Costco or Walmart, so life is good!

We all learn new things during challenging times. Though I have never heard the phrase before, I now know what “social distancing” is, and will do my best to not get into anyone else’s personal bubble. I continue to be optimistic that we will all successfully navigate this time frame of school closures.

 Have a great week, and remember even during a pandemic and in a world that has changed for all of us, it is a great day to be an Eagle!

This will be short week for your students. Monday, March 9 is a Professional Development Day for teachers, meaning that students have the day off from school. And Friday will be a Minimal Day with students being dismissed from school at 12:35 pm.

Monday night will be our Chick-Fil-A Spirit Night, 5:00 – 8:00 pm at the Lehi location. 20% of proceeds will go to Alpine Elementary.

We have reached 778,850 minutes in our Million Minute Reading Marathon!  Our goal is to hit the million-minute mark by the end of March. We can do it! Click Here to Log your reading minutes!  If you would prefer a paper copy to enter minutes, your child can get one in the library from Mrs. Ruesch. Keep reading!

We are all reading daily updates on the impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) across the world. This is the letter sent out to parents last week by the Alpine School District.

The Alpine Elementary School Community Council will be meeting 9:30 – 10:30 am on Thursday, March 12. The agenda is attached and any parent is welcome to attend.

The following students were nominated by their teachers and recognized last week for consistently demonstrating what we call the 6 C’s: collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, citizenship and character.

Piper Ainge–2nd Grade, Mrs. Blodgett

Charlotte Ashton–2nd Grade, Mrs. Wallace

Ruby Barrett–2nd Grade, Mrs. Andersen

Brynnlee Cann–1st Grade, Mrs. Liston

Hank Challis–2nd Grade, Mrs. Andersen

Sutton Fronce–1st Grade, Mrs. Faux

London Johnson–3rd Grade, Ms. Elder

Timmy Lyon–3rd Grade, Ms. Elder

Candace Mellor–4th Grade, Ms. Moore

Levi Moore–3rd Grade, Mrs. Chen

Ezra Nuttall–1st Grade, Ms. Tau Tau

Anna Packer–3rd Grade, Mrs. Chen

Brinley Raven–4th Grade, Mrs. Orgill

Stella Eve Riding–1st Grade, Mrs. Faux

Joshua Zhou Fu–2nd Grade, Mrs. Blodgett

The winner of February Box Tops by a huge margin, almost 200 more than second place, is Mr. Horan’s class with 233 box tops! They will receive the yummy mint brownie dessert pizza sponsored from Pizza Pie Café, Alpine Location. That brings our box tops total to $602.50.

Outside the Principal’s Office.

43 years ago, while attending Ricks College, I went to an on-campus concert featuring the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The opening act that night was a young comedian named Steve Martin (prior to his Father of the Bride fame) who I remember being quite funny with his one-liners as he incorporated banjo play and creating balloon figures into his act. Saturday night, Laura and I watched Bright Star at the Hale Center Theater. The play, definitely not a comedy, was excellent with outstanding musical talent and a touching and engaging storyline. The playwright and musical composer? Steve Martin. Some would call that sequence of events serendipity.

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