If it could get any busier than it is normally at Carbon High, somehow, someway, more things are being packed into the school’s schedule this year. Some of it is that the school has been hosting students from other schools for sporting events.
Over the weekend of May 11-12 the school hosted a number of different playoff sports at the school.
“It had been a long time since we hosted that many playoff sports in the spring,” said Carbon High Principal Bruce Bean. “We compete in non-athletic events and athletic events very well in the 3A ranks. Our kids don’t take a back seat to anyone in the state.”
To the point, with the baseball season just finished, Carbon took second place in state in the 3A ranks. But this year the school has excelled in non-athletic events, too.
Even athletes showed off some skills that were beyond the field, court or course. This year no less than 14 students from Carbon High found All State Academic honors while participating in their sports. Three were on the golf team and four were All Academic in multiple sports.
In music, 20 students earned superiors at state competition, while four from the drama department did the same. Four students from the school were awarded first place in their competition areas in the regional science fair and many students placed highly in competitions in organizations ranging from the Future Business Leaders of America to the Future Farmers of America.
This year more students placed at state in the history fair (16) than ever before, with four of them taking first place honors and going onto nationals.
Some honors also came to faculty at the school. In April, Gayle Scoville, the school’s debate coach was named to the Utah Debate Coaches Hall of Fame.
Bean also talked about how the Career Technical Education (CTE) pathways are so important these days and that the school is working hard to put students in a place to get those kinds of jobs.
“What we are trying to build here is more of a connection with skill type employment,” said Bean. “Many of the people who provide those kinds of services, such as in construction and plumbing, are getting older and there are not people trained to replace them.”
Bean went on to say that the measure of success isn’t necessarily a person’s measured intelligence, instead it’s a willingness to work and to stick with it.
“We are trying to close that skills and work ethic gap,” he said. “Then once they have that, and once they get a little older and they decide they can start their own business.”
The school had 29 students who won awards for various CTE Pathways, and two that entered the Skills USA competition.
Along these same lines two engineers and the human resource director for Intermountain Electronics came to the school in April and offered up a lunch time program for students, looking for 12 well-paid interns from the school for this coming summer. They hope the program will begin to foster home grown employees who will get the proper education, stick with the company and stay in the area to work.
Bean is proud of the students going off to colleges in the state and pointed out that scholarship dollar totals for Carbon High seniors amounted to $1,267,458. That total does not count private scholarships that some students may have received.
Getting a good education is not easy for students, and some take to it better than others. And some who don’t get the best grades still go onto success. Bean talked about his own experience with getting an education.
“I had a 1.0 GPA my first semester at Ricks College,” he said smiling. “I had an A in skiing and a lot of D minuses.’ I wasn’t ready for that academic challenge. I would sit in class and say to myself, ‘We could be skiing.’ The fact is not every kid who graduates from high school is ready to go jump into the deep end of education and that’s okay.”
Bean says that at some point many students get it and realize that without furthering their education they will not do things they really want to do.
He said that he faced that, too, working as a hod tender in the summer between school years.
He also talked about the soft skill shortage there is with many students today. He said the school works to build on the skills students bring to school, but unfortunately many aren’t getting an education at home concerning such things as showing up on time or doing work when it is required.
Electronic devices being used at inappropriate times is also another problem. He said one history student in a class asked him why it mattered that they were on their phones during class time and he asked them how their boss would feel about it if they were using it while working the drive up window at a fast food place.
“I asked them what would happen if they were doing that?” he said.
Bean also reflected on the active shooter drill at Carbon High on April 11. That morning two undercover officers came into the school and acted as shooters and the police agencies in the area responded as if it was a real active shooter. They consequently found and arrested the pair, evacuated the students and secured the campus.
“You know that went well enough that it was a positive experience,” he said. “As I told the students later in an assembly, after watching law enforcement work in the building, that those officers don’t only have their backs, but their fronts and their sides too.”
With graduation happening this week, the day after school is out the whole process of getting ready for the start of school again in the fall begins anew.
Bean says each year brings new challenges and opportunities, and he is excited for it.
Carbon High students pivot to life after class
Carbon High Principal Bruce Bean stands before the Carbon School Board and informs the board that Gayle Scoville, the schools Debate Coach (right) was recently named to the Utah Debate Coaches Hall of Fame.