Sterling Scholar

On Tuesday, Sarah found out that she has been selected as Springville High School's Sterling Scholar for Social Studies. Way to go Sarah. It is a well deserved honor. Here is a list of the other scholars:

English – Carmen Payne
Mathematics – Wyatt LeFevre
Science – Mark Ohman
Social Science – Sarah Tueller Emmett
Skilled and Technical Sciences – Daniel Salazar
Family and Consumer Science – Sarah Skinner
Computer Technology – Erick Alfredo Vargas Flores
World Languages – Sally Wells
Dance – Kayla Hansen
Instrumental Music – Devin Smith
Vocal Performance – Haylee Markham
Speech/ Theater Arts/Forensics – Brynn Allred
Visual Arts – Katya Fullmer

Sally (maroon dress) and Haylee (tallest girl, back row) are close friends of Sarah's and have been part of her study group/support group (and musical friends) throughout high school. Sarah has worked very hard in school and has excelled in all of her many AP and honors classes. She has a knack for remembering details that she picks up in her readings, from teachers and classes, from what she watches, from her travles, and from conversations with family and friends. 

What follows are memories of her dad of of some of those readings and travels. (Marie's memories would certainly include 12 years of home work monitoring, science project helping, paper proof reading, and over all education supporting.)

One of my favorite memories of being a dad is the night time tradition of reading to our children--always lying next to them in bed. When Sarah was five and six, Marie and I took turns reading all of the American Girl books to her. Sarah's all time favorite girl was red-headed Felicity of colonial Williamsburg. She was so enamored with this spunky girl that her Aunt Diane stood in line at a book signing with Valerie Tripp, the author of the book, so Sarah could have her own autographed copy. Then as a family we made sure we visited Williamsburg as part of a trip "back east" to North Carolina for a nephew's wedding. The sad end to that trip, was that I accidentally left the autographed Felicity book on the plane never to be found again (we tried).

I remember one night reading aloud about Nez Perce Indian Kaya and her belief in a Great Spirit who guided her. That account led to a wonderful discussion, prompted by Sarah's thoughts and questions, about how the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost likewise leads and guides us. The three other six book sets that I remember reading were Josefina of the early Spanish colony in New Mexico, Addy an escaped slave during the civil war, and Kit who resourcefully typed her way through the depression. For many years after, theses books became Sarah's time-line of US history. When something was mentioned about US history she would smartly note that that happened during the time of Samantha or Kirsten or Felicity or whatever American Girl lived at that time.

Interestingly, Sarah never warmed up to the Little House on the Prairie series. Perhpas because when I read the first two books to her I always called the dog Hubsubub instead of Jack just to tease her. 

While never forced or planned, Sarah naturally gravitated to books about history, people and places. She read and re-read Children Just Like Me, a delightful DK book that shows the daily life of children around the world. One of her goals is to track down all of these book friends to see what their lives have become and perhaps write a follow up book: "Adults Just Like Me."

Through the years, as she became a voracious reader, she still allowed me to read books to her. Favorites for the both of us include: The Wheel on the School about children, storks, dikes and storms in Holland; The Bronze Bow about zealot Jews living in Roman-occupied Palestine, and the Witch of Blackbird Pond about non-accepting Puritans in New England. These all have historical accuracy and are set in real places. (I also read the first Harry Potter to her, and the first two Fablehaven books to her but then she read the rest of these fantasy series on her own.)

Sarah always looks forward to the monthly delivery of the National Geographic. When we visited London in December 2009, Sarah's selected souvenir was a book about all of the monarchs of England. She loved to read and report about all she learned about the nobles. For the past two years she has asked for a subscription to the Christian Science Monitor for her birthday.

While young Sarah watched and re-watched the Liberty Kids series about the American Revolution on PBS. She is now a great fan a BBC period shows.

Sarah has also enjoyed vacations (long and short road trips) and study abroad opportunities (Jerusalem and Semester at Sea) with her family. She loves to explore and learn as she goes. Here are a few photos of places she has been that have enriched her understanding of this wonderful world.

 Yellowstone 2006

 Redwoods 2008

Bethlehem orphanage Christmas 2009

 Amsterdam 2010

Petra Jordan 2010

 Hoover Dam 2012 (Percy Jackson fans will know the significance of this place)

NYC 2014

Saigon 2015, Making meals for the elderly to eat during the Tet (New Years) Holiday.

Kerela India 2015 (learning about women's cooperatives)

Trinity College Library, Dublin Ireland 2015

Nine Mile Canyon (with Petroglyphs)

Thursday and Friday was Fall Break for the kids and Marie, but unfortunately not for me. Thursday I did play hooky so I could go see the movie Pan with the kids. Then Friday after my two morning classes, Joel, Will and I headed south for an adventure. Sarah had her last ACT prep class on Saturday morning and so she and Marie stayed home (a movie night and shopping on Friday kept them entertained). Our destination was Nine Mile Canyon up the road from Price and Wellington Utah. It was a slice of Utah, I had not yet seen. The canyon has no public campgrounds and most of the valley is privately owned by ranchers. We camped at Nine Mile Campground--part of one of the private ranches. Most of our camping in recent years has been with the scouts and Young Men in the ward with their well outfitted camp trailer with its gas stoves and dutch ovens and with their inclination to cook delicious dinners and breakfasts. I'm not that guy. We went minimalist. Subway/Wendy's sandwiches to-go from Price for dinner, cold cereal and orange juice for breakfast and bagels, carrots, apples, and Marie's delicious zucchini bread for lunch.

After our no-cook, no-clean-up dinner we had time to go out exploring. Will balked at any mention of a hike for fall break, so we went for a "leisurely stroll" that he really liked.

We found three deer grazing on the stubble of an alfalfa field that we followed up into the hills. They kept an eye on us but didn't seem too worried. It is deer hunt season and I'm hoping they knew that they were safe on the private lands of the ranch and from the gunless/huntless Emmetts.

Hiking down we saw eight more dear, enjoying an alfalfa dinner. One was always on the watch.

We brought globe willow logs from home for our camp fire and s'mores.


 Joel's artistic image of our campfire.

The boys slept in the 2 1/2 man tent and I slept outside on an air mattress with extra warmth from a Norda Emmett quilt. Will was a little worried for my safety at first. A flapping tent flap also worried him, but Joel came to the rescue with an explanation of what the noise was and letting Will listen to some calming music on his i-pod. Will was first up at 7:00 am. It was mostly dark, but we soon got a fire going by blowing on the remnant of last night's coals.

Part of the reason I chose Nine Mile Canyon was because an approaching storm was coming in Friday from the southwest and this more eastern part of Utah would not get rain until Saturday afternoon. We headed up the sunny canyon (most likely named by one of John Wesley Powell's surveyors when they explored and mapped the Green River, into which Nine Mile Creek flows.) Luckily the road was all paved a few years ago to cut down on increasing dust from all of the natural gas mining trucks transiting the canyon. We were armed with a long list of mile markers for Fremont Indian petroglyph sites. Some were easier to spot than others. I knew interest would be short lived so I pre-selected what I thought would be most interesting. First stop was the Tug-of-war.

Swallow nests

 Balance Rock

 Nine Mile Canyon. Storm clouds moving in.

 "The Giant"

Rasmussen Cave.


 It is privately owned as noted by this sign painted (over a petroglyph!) by the owner.

 Hunting image from the cave as seen from behind the fence.

I mistakenly told Will we were going to hike up to a Fremont village which was his cue to start complaining. It took about 10 minutes to hike up to this rock covering a livable cave with multiple entrances. Fremont Indians lived in the valley until about 1200 AD. 




Below were fertile lands of the creek-fed valley. Granaries were located along the cliffs, but they were one thing we never could see.

 These rocks mark the perimeter of a buried Kiva that overlooks the valley.



One of the few marked petroglyphs. This one is the most famous and it sits on Utah Educational Trust land. The state is covered with these square mile plots (marked in blue on government maps) which were established as part of the township and range system to make sure that every settlement had land for schools. Currently, mining, grazing and logging revenues from these plots help pay for education in Utah.

How have I never been here before? So much exploring still to do.

 Group selfie by Joel to prove that I was there.

 The Big Buffalo

Pregnant Buffalo

 Rock art from ancient to modern.

Being amused by cow pies.

 
Our last stop was to see the many interesting panels accessed via a short stroll (not hike) at the entrance to Daddy Canyon. Who knows what these creative ancient Americans were trying to say. I have my own ideas.

 A winged/horned being (angel/devil?). Or did aliens visit the Fremont?

 Five free-fallers holding hands

 Lobster for dinner.

 Proof of an ancient green revolution: pivot (circle) irrigation and using animal droppings for fertilizer.

We then headed north via Gates Canyon along a winding dirt road that eventually connected with US 40 near Myton that took us west back home.

The upper reaches of Gates Canyon and out into the Uinta Basin were dotted with natural gas pumps.

Alfalfa irrigated with water channeled via canal from the Duchesne River--which flows into the Green River which flows into the Colorado River. Foothills of the Uinta Mountains in the distance. It rained the last hour or our afternoon drive home. A grand outing.