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Show Cyan Magenta Yellow Black A8 Sanpete Messenger-Gunnison Valley Edition Wednesday, March 16, 2005 South Sanpete approves improvements for schools Capital reserves will fund $400,000 worth of summer projects By Lloyd Call Associate publisher MANTI—Several improvements will be made to South Sanpete schools during the summer, using up a big chunk of its capital improvement reserves. The school board approved up to $400,000 in summer projects at its monthly board meeting held at Manti High School last Wednesday March 9. The biggest projects will be improvements to the heating system of the Gunnison Valley High School gym ($213,000) and to both Gunnison and Manti outdoor tracks ($95,000). Additionally, new bleacher sections will be added at the Gunnison Valley High School football stadium ($25,000). Other projects will be parking lot repairs, including a new sump, at the Gunnison Valley High west lot ($15,000), parking lot crack repair and sealing at both high schools ($17,500), and upgrading the fire safety systems in both high schools and middle school kitchens ($10,000). Although costs have not yet been determined, the board also approved repairs to the Gunnison Valley High School scoreboard and the Manti High School drafting room. “We’ve put a lot of money into our gyms and tracks, and if we don’t maintain them, it ends up costing a lot more money,” said district administrator Paul Gottfredson. Gottfredson also told the board that the money was available and waiting would only worsen conditions, especially on the tracks. “We have just over $900,000 in our capital outlay fund, and even by keeping $500,000 in reserve, we have enough to do these projects without making any budget adjustments,” he said. Additional bleachers should be a welcome change at Gunnison Valley High. Don Hill, district assistant superintendent said, “Gunnison has had good turnouts at their football games, but it’s been standing room only, and this will let parents sit down.” The new bleachers should provide about 300 more seats. After lengthy deliberations, the board decided to advertise for and hire an assistant superintendent to replace Hill, who will take over as superintendent July 1. The job requires a master’s degree with an administrative supervisory license, at least five years of public school administrative experience and public school teaching experience. Closing date for the position is March 31. Gunnison students will present abridged Hamlet By Anita Lyons Staff writer GUNNISON—Curious about all the fuss over “Hamlet,” Shakespeare’s famous play? Now is your chance to get familiar with the play without having to commit a lot of time to it. Gunnison Valley High School actors will present the play in one hour on Thursday and Friday, March 31 and April 1, at 7 p.m. using a script adapted by educator Cass Foster for his “Sixty-Minute Shakespeare” series. The unabridged play can last as long as four hours, but Foster’s version “is an ideal alternative for those who lack the time or resources to tackle the unabridged version,” a review of Foster’s series states. Although Foster has cut much from the play, he still has managed to tell the whole story and even keep many of the famous quotes. Some famous lines include “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark;” “Frailty, thy name is woman;” “To thine own self be true;” and, of course, “To be or not to be.” Gunnison High senior David Sanderson plays Hamlet, who finds out—through a ghostly apparition—that his father, the king of Denmark, was murdered by his uncle, Claudius (Josh Sellers), who has assumed the throne. Hamlet doesn’t trust ghosts, so he does a little detective work— by pretending to be insane—to find out whether the ghost lied to him. His friend Horatio (Melissa Johnson) is the only one in on his secret. Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude Gunnison High theater students prepare to present an abridged version of William Shakespear’s ‘Hamlet.’ The shortened version allows audiences to get to know the play without having to devote a lot of time to it—sometimes up to four hours. (JuliAnn Sellers); girlfriend, Ophelia ( Stephanie Boore); and the king’s advisor, Polonius (Nathaniel Opoulos) are all mystified by Hamlet’s strange behavior. The king suspects Hamlet and plots with Laertes (John Clark) to kill him. The truth of the murder of Hamlet’s father comes out during a sword fight in which Hamlet, Laertes and King Claudius are killed. Only Horatio is left to tell the prince’s story. For director Mark Lyons, this production contained a couple of first-time challenges. First, when there weren’t enough boys who auditioned for the play, Lyons had to use girls to fill male roles. Lyons uses a solid-black costume design in the production to help the audience see all the actors as players—without much regard to gender—who take on different roles by adding different costume pieces such as a hat or cape. Second, Lyons had to safely implement the sword fight at the end of the play. Although the swords used in the scene are not sharpened, the actors are at risk of injury if they do not follow the planned moves precisely Lyons has had class and onstage experience with stage combat and says he enjoyed choreographing the fight. And choreographing is the right word: the actors go through the motions slowly, then gradually increase the speed of the fight until the “dance” is learned well enough that they can do it without taking out someone’s eye. Students will first perform the play at region competition in Moab on March 22. The entrance fee is $5 per person and $4 for senior citizens and children under 12 for the play’s public performances at Gunnison Valley High School. Websites teach children typing skills By Kathy Lin Eggleston Staff writer The Utah State Office of Education has listed on its website several computer pro- grams that could help children to learn typing skills. While keyboarding may not be as interesting to your child as skateboarding, it has become an essential life skill and is now part Yoga Classes Stretch. Strengthen. Relax SPRING SPECIAL Mention this ad and receive $5.00 Off on your $20.00 punch card. Tuesday & Thursday, 8-9 p.m. Wednesday 9-10 p.m. Snow College West Campus Hi-Tech Building, Upstairs $3.00/class, or $20 for punch card of 8 classes. Beginners welcome! 283-0144 of the core school curriculum from third grade to graduation. The Utah State Office of Education reviewed and rated keyboarding software both online and off. With the USOE endorsements, parents can easily find the program that best suits their child. Three online programs— Easy Type, Learn2Type and Learn2Type for Kids—received excellent ratings by educators. By using helpful computer programs that teach keyboarding, parents can make learning to type more fun for children who need to practice at home. The USOE’s website includes core curriculum outlines for every subject in all grades as well as other information useful to parents and educators alike. For more information go to www.usoe.k12.ut.us. MARK LYONS / MESSENGER PHOTO Anger erupts between Hamlet (David Sanderson) and Laertes (John Clark), at Ophelia’s (Stephanie Boore) funeral. Claudius (Josh Sellers), Gertrude (Julie Sellers) and a Nun (Brittany Fischer) stop the fight. The Gunnison Valley High School’s abridged production of “Hamlet” will be March 31 and April 1 at 7 p.m. Hamlet in one hour play being presented at Gunnison High By Anita Lyons Staff writer GUNNISON—Curious about all the fuss over “Hamlet,” Shakespeare’s famous play? Now is your chance to get familiar with the play without having to commit a lot of time to it. Gunnison Valley High School actors will present the play in one hour on Thursday and Friday, March 31 and April 1, at 7 p.m. using a script adapted by educator Cass Foster for his “Sixty-Minute Shakespeare” series. The unabridged play can last as long as four hours, but Foster’s version “is an ideal alternative for those who lack the time or resources to tackle the unabridged version,” a review of Foster’s series states. Although Foster has cut much from the play, he still has managed to tell the whole story and even keep many of the famous quotes. Some famous lines include “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark;” “Frailty, thy name is woman;” “To thine own self be true;” and, of course, “To be or not to be.” Gunnison High senior David Sanderson plays Hamlet, who finds out—through a ghostly apparition—that his father, the king of Denmark, was murdered by his uncle, Claudius (Josh Sellers), who has assumed the throne. Hamlet doesn’t trust ghosts, so he does a little detective work—by pretending to be insane—to find out whether the ghost lied to him. His friend Horatio (Melissa Johnson) is the only one in on his secret. Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude (JuliAnn Sellers); girlfriend, Ophelia ( Stephanie Boore); and the king’s advisor, Polonius ( Nathaniel Opoulos) are all mystified by Hamlet’s strange behavior. The king suspects Hamlet and plots with Laertes (John Clark) to kill him. The truth of the murder of Hamlet’s father comes out during a sword fight in which Hamlet, Laertes and King Claudius are killed. Only Horatio is left to tell the prince’s story. For director Mark Lyons, this production contained a couple of first-time challenges. First, when there weren’t enough boys who auditioned for the play, Lyons had to use girls to fill male roles. Lyons uses a solid-black costume design in the production to help the audience see all the actors as players—without much regard to gender—who take on different roles by adding different costume pieces such as a hat or cape. Second, Lyons had to safely implement the sword fight at the end of the play. Although the swords used in the scene are not sharpened, the actors are at risk of injury if they do not follow the planned moves precisely Lyons has had class and onstage experience with stage combat and says he enjoyed choreographing the fight. And choreographing is the right word: the actors begin using dowels and go through the motions slowly, then gradually increase the speed of the fight. When they start working with the real swords, the actions are once again in slow motion until the “dance” is learned well enough that they can do it without taking out someone’s eye. Students will first perform the play at region competition in Moab on March 22. The entrance fee is $5 per person and $4 for senior citizens and children under 12 for the play’s public performances at Gunnison Valley High School on March 31 and April 1. Factors affecting well-being of children enumerated By Kathy Lin Eggleston Staff writer Of the 8,849 children living in Sanpete County, 1,137 live at or below poverty level, and the Division of Child and Family Services has seen a 38.4 percent increase in child protective services cases in the last three years. Statistics from The Utah Kids Count report attempt to show how a number of conditions including poverty, abuse and neglect are affecting the well being of Utah children 017 years of age. The report is an annual project of Voices for Utah Children funded by the Anne E. Casey Foundation. “ We s a w v e r y l i t t l e change,” Terry Haven, Utah Kids Count director said. “We do have more children in our population than last year. This means many of the indicators saw an increase in the number of children experiencing bad outcomes.” Although more women are getting prenatal care, and child and infant deaths have declined slightly, there are more low birth-weight babies. Teen pregnancy is down, yet the number of cases of chlamydia, a sexually transmitted infection, is steadily increasing. The number of hospital discharges due to injuries for children is down slightly, but the rate of child abuse and neglect has risen. Suicide rates in children are also taking an upswing, as is the number of suicide attempts. The suicide rate for former foster youth is 17 times higher than the general population rate. The domestic violence cases in Utah District Courts are down, yet the violence of those cases is up. The number of violent crime offenses and substance abuse offences is going back up. The county unemployment rate stands at 7.1 percent and the overall poverty rate at 14.6 percent. Poverty level for a family of four (two adults and two children) is around $18,000. For children, the poverty rate increased to 15.5 percent. South Sanpete School District has 2,772 students with a student to teacher ratio of 20-to-one and the school district spends $5,343 per student. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch is 49.2. North Sanpete School District has 2,370 students with a 23-to-one student to teacher ratio and spends $5,333 per student. The percentage of students receiving reduced or free lunch is 53.8. The people at Voices for Utah Children know that statistics alone cannot help Utahans make informed decisions. People are needed to advocate in the children’s behalf. “I encourage you to use the statistics to help you be a voice for all the children of Utah,” Haven said. “I am hoping people, especially policymakers in the communities, will start using this book for needs’ assessments as they plan for the future.” Measures of Child WellBeing in Utah, 2005: Painting a Picture of Child Well-Being is available at local libraries statewide or at www.utahchildren.org. You’re reading... The Sanpete Messenger The Voice of Sanpete County since 1893 |
