As Salem Hills went to face Payson in basketball this past Tuesday, the new found rival put up a tremendous fight to overcome Salem Hills. With Salem having the lead most of the game, some students are wondering if the pressure is getting too high. As it stands in the region, Springville, thanks to their stunning last second shot to win the game by one point last week, is placing first, with Payson trailing behind them. Salem Hills and Spanish Fork are tied for the third place rank, both hoping to pull out a win. They are scheduled to play each other on the fourth of February. Until that time Salem is going to play Maple Mountain on Friday the 28th. Payson overcame a twenty point deficit mid-way through the third quarter to defend their home court in this region 8 showdown. Braden Wright had a huge night for the Lions, posting 27 points and 10 rebounds to add to the astonishing defeat of the Skyhawks. He also hit the two foul shot that gave Payson the lead in the final seconds of the game. London Simonsen, Jake Skinner, and Josh Treanor combined for a total of 52 of the Skyhawks 57 points. Over all it was a great game, but not enough for the win.

Salem Hills High School’s FBLA & DECA students were delighted to be able to perform this year’s annual service project for Barnett Elementary. FBLA& DECA students met after school one day to make about 100 Thanksgiving hats for kindergarten students at Barnett Elementary in Payson, Utah. A few weeks later, the club adviser, Josie Reynaud, took 5 students to Barnett Elementary to help with two different kindergarten classes. They helped the children with activities, played with them at recess, sang songs, and helped serve their Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone involved had a great time! SHHS FBLA looks forward to this service opportunity each year.

If one walks into the gym at Salem hills high school the night of a men’s basketball game and you will instantly feel the energy of the crowd and players; Thursday night was no different. “We play with a great energy on our team” said senior captain Jake Skinner “and we hope it transfers to our fans.” According to senior super fan Jordan Hanson, it works. “It is impossible to just watch a game here at the Hills; you stand and cheer till you can’t talk.” The team played a long hard game and, unfortunately, lost the contest by one point. Fighting hard and taking control of the first quarter, they lost their lead going into the half down by ten. The boys came out stealing and controlling the ball as they went to rally past west. Up by one in the final second of the came a west player was fouled and given two free throws winning the game for his team by one point. In the end the Skyhawks played a great game with solid defense throughout holding a high scoring West team to a mere 57 points and putting up 56 of their own. London Simonsen led the Skyhawks with 21 points. The team has their heads held high as they prepare for future opponents.

On Thursday, December 2nd the Skyhawks wrestling team squared off in a duel against the Mountain View Bruins that would soon become an epic victory for the Skyhawks. Starting off with a big victory for the Skyhawks was senior 145 pounder Stetson Talon, taking it all three periods and coming out on top 15 to 5. Salem then proceeded to win the next four matches until giving up a pin in the 215 class. The well coached and trained Skyhawks then went on to complete a 57 to 12 pounding of Mountain View. Putting the finishing touches on a good meet was Salem’s 140 pounder Dallin Gividen, pinning Jake Rufel of mountain view 30 seconds into the second round. The Salem hills Wrestling team is now proudly 2-0 and looking good.

On Tuesday November 30th the Skyhawk wrestling team traveled south for a hard core dual meet with Juab. Leading off for the Skyhawks was 103 pounder Nathan Sandage. After a hard fought match that lasted all three rounds, Nate pulled out a victory with a final score of 11 to 10 Giving Salem a three point lead. “I was very proud of the boys and the way they performed” said coach Brindley. Improving on this lead was Zach Darling facing off against Juab’s Kenneth Reynolds at 112 pounds. It was an impressive show by Zach pinning his opponent in the first minute of the first round. This opened the gate for the Skyhawks as they went on to win 9 of the fourteen matches with six of them by fall/pin, going on to defeat Juab 47 to 24.

The temperatures have dropped, snow has fallen, and the swim team has come out from hibernation. It hasn’t been quite the start that the team was hoping to get; but the team has been dealing with sickness and major lack of pool time. Compared to teams like Springville and Uintah, who have two-a-day practices with an average time of 3 hours a day, Salem has about an hour and a half every other day. Even though the team has been dealing with setbacks it still has a strong relay team; they have a very good chance of going to state. Salem does have numbers in its favor; with a whopping 44 kids they have the biggest roster in the region. The swim team is packed with fun and is known to have the best bus rides you will ever have anywhere. So if you’re ever in the mood for supporting your school, and having a lot of fun in a relaxed atmosphere, join the swim team. One Plus: you get to wear a speedo.

Five Salem Hills High School students participated in the Region Make It With Wool Contest held November 17 and 18 at Mapleton Junior High. Pictured are (left to right): Kelcie Billat, 3rd Place Senior Division, Amaya Bingham, Honorable Mention Junior Division, Sydnie Eppley, 3rd Place Junior Division, Katie Devenport, Honorable Mention Senior Division, Kaylee Alldredge, Honorable Mention Junior Division. Congratulations on the completion and presentation of their sewing projects.

Salem Hills High School’s DECA and FBLA organizations held their annual Business Tour on November 11. Students toured two successful businesses in the area, asked questions about products, production, and management, and took a closer look at various departments that are required to run a business. “It was a fun, educational, and interesting day,” said Tyler Poulsen (DECA Web Master), “It was amazing to see how many different aspects make up a company and how they all have to work together to be successful.” The first business to be toured was Neways in Springville. The students were introduced to a wide variety of products, such as health supplements, cosmetics, and cleaning products. They visited different departments, which included human resources, purchasing, marketing, research and development, and creative design. Each department gave a mini-presentation. The favorite presentation came from the Marketing Department. They taught students how a new product starts as an idea and is taken through the process of being packaged and sold to customers. The second business toured was Young Living Essentials in Springville. Young Living Essentials specializes in products produced with essential oils. Students were able to walk through the 100,000 square foot building that houses the quality control labs, receiving, and shipping departments. To wrap the day up, a quick stop was made at a local Wendy’s for a refreshing Frosty. Students are still talking about how much fun they had on the business tour. It was a great experience.

On November 18, the Sky Hawks Musical Theatre department will be performing Les Miserables at Salem Hills High School. And thanks to Utah local composer Dave Zabriskie, along with his business partner Michael Leavitt, they will be receiving some very unusual help from an unlikely source: Nintendo’s Wii. Zabriskie and Leavitt are the co-owners and creators of Right On Cue Systems, or ROCSystems. The ROCSystem is a program that lets you conduct pre-recorded songs with the Wii Remote and Nun-chuck accessory, controlling things like tempo, volume, and pitch with the touch of a button or the flick of a wrist. In other words, it lets you edit a soundtrack on stage in real time. This allows you to do things that were previously only possible with a live orchestra, like change the shows running time via speeding up or slowing down the music, or add dramatic pauses to build tension. Not to mention it allows Salem High’s orchestra to play alongside the recording by wearing headphones and following the conductor as they normally would. “I think it’s a great opportunity” said Polly Dunn, of the Theatre Program, “It’s marvelous that our orchestra and actors will be able to play and perform alongside professionally recorded music.”