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Show Thursday, August 21, 200 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN NEWS AND IDEAS FROM CLASSROOMS AND EDUCATORS unior High open house well attended .notes Page 4 A.F. J American Fork High School Fee payments Student fees may still be paid online through the MySchoolFees link on the AFHS Web site at www.afhs.alpine.kl2.ut.us. A receipt should be printed and brought to the book depository deposi-tory for textbook checkout. Throughout the year students stu-dents and parents will be able to pay fees for the various organizations they are a part of. Coaches and teachers will let students know when fees are available for online pay-' ment through the MySchoolFees MySchool-Fees link on the AFHS Web site. Yearbook information Yearbooks are now $50 and may be purchased either online on-line at www.MySchoolFees. com or at the student finance office. The cost of yearbooks will be $50 until Dec. 31. Any yearbook purchased after Dec. 31 will be $60. Students and parents are reminded that supply is very limited. Parking Parking passes for juniors and seniors may be purchased for $5 either on line at www.MySchoolFees. com or at the student finance office. Passes can be picked up at the book depository with a receipt of payment. Sophomores may purchase a pass for $2.50 and must park in the driving range. All vehicles parked at AFHS are subject to being searched at the discretion of the administration ad-ministration to help maintain a safe school environment. Parking in staff, visitor or disabled parking stalls or in non-parking areas may result in a parking citation ($5), the vehicle being booted ($25), the vehicle towed (cost to the owner of the vehicle), or parking privileges denied. Pictures School pictures will be completed during English classes today. Picture Pic-ture packets will be available avail-able and must be paid at the time the picture is taken. A make-up picture day will be announced in the near future for those who missed picture day. Those students who paid for a student handbook will be able to pick it up at this time. Students must present their receipt as proof of payment. pay-ment. Hello activities Hello week will culminate with a Hello dance Friday after the football game in the commons com-mons area. All AFHS students stu-dents are invited to attend. Tickets can be purchased at the door. American Fork Junior High School Hearing screening Hearing Hear-ing screening will be today and Friday. Pictures Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and Thursday. Picture packets will be available and must be paid at the time the picture is taken. Forbes Elementary School Kindergarten information Kindergarten testing will be completed tomorrow. The first day of kindergarten is Monday. i CALL TO DONATE YOUR NEW.fl;R i 1 TO NEWArtRS IN EDUCATION 1 : 375-5103---! Viiijictv,1;! GOING ON VACATION: DONATE YOUR PAPER Barbara Christiansen NORTH COUNTY STAFF ... r There was no official attendance at-tendance taken, but it appears a near-record number of students attended a prior to school open house at American Fork Junior High School last week. j Principal Shane Farnsworth told about the numbers. "My assistant says this is the busiest we have ever been," he said. "We have close to 1,600 students this year," he said. "School is starting a little earlier ear-lier than usual. We did online registration. I think a lot of students are coming to meet their teachers. We have had a good steady flow all night. It has been very positive." Students and their parents were able to find the schedules, teachers and room numbers. They could go to each room and meet the teachers to get a feel for their plans for the year. They could pay fees, join the PTSA, check their lunch schedules and other tasks. One which was often per formed was checking lockers and combinations. Lance Jones was a seventh grade student who had to try several times to get his to open. The former Legacy Elementary School student found the right way to twist the dial and succeeded, suc-ceeded, ready for the first day of seventh grade on Friday. "I have met two of my teach ers and have gone to all the classrooms," he said. Another seventh grade student stu-dent in attendance was Ashley Harding, the oldest in her family. She commented on the Forbes principal shoes Barbara Christiansen NORTH COUNTY STAFF Some people wear lots of hats; Sam Rencher wears many pairs of shoes. When Rencher, the new principal of Forbes Elementary Elementa-ry School, introduced himself to the faculty, he told about himself by showing various shoes he wears for different activities. He also showed them those of his family members. mem-bers. "I have missionary shoes, ones for scuba, motorcycle riding, ice hockey, bowling, skiing, dancing and more," he said. "If you can think of a sport I probably have it. They are all hobbies that I have and I love." Despite having those hobbies, hob-bies, he doesn't get to do them all that often. "Where 1 put my time is my kids," he said. They include his own four sons and a daughter due in October, Oc-tober, along with the students at Forbes. Rencher brings a lot of experience to the job. He has 10 years teaching at Sharon and Bonneville Elementary Schools in Orem. "Between the two schools I have taught every grade from kindergarten through sixth," he said. "During the first seven sev-en years I also was a literacy specialist with the district, plus a literacy coach, release time coach, literacy coordinator coordi-nator and literacy in-service teacher." While he was at Bonneville, he was assigned to work at BYU. "1 was still an employee of Alpine School District, but I taught management and leadership," lead-ership," he said. He also supervised super-vised pre-service teachers. He applied for a principal-ship principal-ship and earned a second master's mas-ter's degree. Even though he is serving as a principal, he still considers consid-ers himself a teacher. "I love the kids so much," he said. "I love how alive they are and how much fun they are to be with. What I would like to do is go into the classrooms. I don't intend on giving up teaching the students." Only when pressed does he tell people he is a principal. "When people ask me, I still say I am a teacher. That is a noble thing," he said. "When they ask me what subject I teach, then I tell them I am actually ac-tually a principal." He said he was looking forward to this new year at Forbes. "I am really excited to be Lance Jones practices opening his number of people at the school. "It's crazy here tonight," she said. "Holy cow." "My locker didn't work today, but it has before," she said. She explained that she ' Photos by Sam Rencher. new principal at Forbes Elementary School, welcomes Ashlyn Callahan to Back to here," he said. "There are such remarkable people. It will be a great year." When he started his teaching career, he had similar feelings, and felt he was ready, particularly particu-larly in certain subjects. He decided de-cided to improve the others. "I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on math," he said. "I felt like writing was an area I could improve on." He continued con-tinued to improve and his first thesis was in writing. Rencher has continued to focus on the subject. "I have a book ready for publication," he said. "It is a science book, a high interest non-fiction book about space. It is about the planets and the solar system, but in an interesting inter-esting way." One day he may write a full-length full-length book, but he said that is in the future. "Novels are a fun challenge, but they are a time issue," he said. Rencher lives in Provo, and he grew up in that community. "I went to Wasatch Elementary Elemen-tary School and my dad was a teacher there," he said. His dad, Grant, has now retired, but the two family members once shared something in s t : i f N Ifrljr " " ""V ' Q) b,' - ' B 'lb I if l f:,t ' : ! I ' X S ! , ' locker at American Fork Junior had tried it earlier when she came to the school to change some classes. She said she enjoyed en-joyed coming to the school and finding some of her friends. "I have seen some friends shows he 5T r-wrfj I love the kids so much. I love how alive they are and how much fun they are to be with. Sam Rencher NEW FORBES ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL common. "At one point we were both teaching fourth grade at the same time," he said. His philosophy of education includes focusing on the goals. "It is really about student achievement, not just academic, academ-ic, but emotional, security and safety," he said. "Everything we do has to be based on what is best for the kids." A secondary goal is related ! i - : I ; V i ' t ) i- ! " v I'M . V" '-. in . . High School. and that was fun," she said. "I like the idea of seventh grade day. I am so glad they are doing do-ing that." Matthew Hunsaker, a seventh sev-enth grade student coming in cares about students 1 1 4. -"" Sam Rencher shows some of his shoes, which he uses to tell people about himself and the various aspects of his personality. to the teachers. "Teachers need to be happy," he said. "I support the teachers. They are the most important factor in a student's educational life." Supporting the students and teachers does away with a lot of need for other activities, he BARBARA CHRISTIANSENNorth County from Shelley, said he was looking look-ing forward to his classes. "They are cool ones," he said. He has high hopes for careers and technical engineering engineer-ing to be his favorite. 1 H t BARBARA CHRISTIANSENNorth County School night. said. "Management isn't an issue," is-sue," he said. "If you respect the students, love them, play with them, and go to recess with them you will get them to succeed and love school. Management Man-agement becomes a non-issue. School is exciting and fun." I" i i ' f i ' C" ' 'J r |