The transition of becoming a middle school from a junior high three years ago has had a big impact on Mont Harmon Middle School, its staff and its students. Many of things that are done at the school have changed, and in fact the school has become more kid friendly.
A number of changes have taken place the help students, including those individuals that will be coming into the building next year.
“Recently we had our fifth grade Pirate Treasure Hunt,” said Chelsa Roberts, a counselor at the school. “We went to all the elementary schools and invited them to come to MHMS to participate. It was on a Thursday night, and they came with their parents so they could figure out the building without anyone else here.”
The idea of the event is to get students used to the facility and to take their anxiety down a couple of notches when the do go to the school in the fall. The treasure hunt added to the fun.
“They have to navigate the building and go different places they have on their treasure map and get it stamped,” she said. “Every student that showed up got a prize.”
The prizes consisted of such things as Mont Harmon cups and t-shirts, key chains, lanyards and candy. The event has taken place each year since the middle school model was adopted by the district.
When they are done they have the general layout of the school in mind when they come here, and I am sure it lowers their anxiety level,” said Roberts.
Out of almost 250 students who will be coming in from the fifth grades around the attendance area, over 120 came to the event.
Roberts said that the counseling office has also been able to participate with students in some great projects this year including with the Juvenile Justice System and through the character education program that has been going on.
“JJS has been doing some mentoring with students who need help as well as some resiliency skills,” she noted. “This year for Character Education we used a program called Habitude. This helps to create leaders in our students. It is taught as monthly lessons on subjects such as managing time, how to influence others and how to take care of ones self. It is a school wide initiative.”
Melanie Huff is the sixth grade science teacher at the school. She also handles two periods of Gifted and Talented students. A huge project that the students in those classes have had this year is to start up and run a business. The whole experience has been an eye opener for all of them.
“The students were given a bank loan of $400 (fake money) and during the process they had to pay all the costs and expenditures of putting together a business, creating a product, doing the record keeping and then marketing that product,” said Huff. “They had to buy radio ads over the intercom and advertising on posters. They even had to pay interest on the debt.”
In other words the students had to buy, rent or find ways to obtain everything for the business they started. She said that in a recent three day sale some of the businesses did well, and some went into bankruptcy. Soon she said they will be counting the money they made, and in the process keeping accounting of the funds straight. Then they will have to pay back what they owe. In the end the students charged others real money for their products. So if there wasn’t enough fake money to pay back their debts, the banker (Huff) dips into their real money to pay off the debts. Any money left over will be used for a class party.
“Products sold have ranged from cookies, cookie dough, mini pizzas, slime, wood plaques, fidget spinners, bracelets and other things,” she said. “There have been a total of nine businesses operating. Of the nine businesses half failed and that follows statistics. Every business made money, but once they had to pay their debts some didn’t show a profit or were bankrupt.”
Huff said that some had low cost and others had, particularly the food businesses, a loss. She said they will do a debriefing to find why some businesses succeeded and others didn’t.
In another ongoing movement students are being taught to work, and not just work in the classroom. These are community service projects and the idea that doing things for others without any direct compensation for it is at the root of all the work that is done.
Involved in leading this project are Marie Leonard, the lead custodian at the school; Julie Montgomery, the schools librarian; and Diana Trujillo, an aide in the building.
The school has partnered with various places in town to “give back” to the community for all that many of the businesses and organizations do for the school.
“Our ELL (English Language Learners) went to the theaters this year and cleaned them,” said Leonard. “They cleaned the seats and mopped the floors.”
She said that the school also has a relationship with USU Eastern to go three times a year to help with grounds work at the campus. In fact one of the projects just recently took place. That activity was to help clean the grounds of the university and to place truck loads of bark around the campus in flower and bush beds to get ready for graduation exercises.
“We tell the students that the campus will be theirs some day and they will reflect back on what they did,” said Leonard. “Kids were filling five gallon buckets of bark in the trucks and then others were running them up like a fire brigade to where the bark needed to be put. the students as well.
Mont Harmon Middle School greets incoming students; celebrates kindness, public service
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