Welcome back, Canyon Crest students, families and teachers, to 2022! We hope you all were able to have wonderful celebrations with family and friends these past few months. Despite challenges over the past year, there are always splendid things to celebrate!

Now that the holidays are behind us, we come to the heart of our school year. Teachers are conscientiously teaching, and students are learning, the core content that students should know in each grade level. Soon students will be demonstrating their learning as they prepare to move to the next level in their academic careers. Attendance is crucial for optimum learning, and this is a critical time for students to attend every day possible in school. Parents, please discuss the importance of your child being at school on time, and we all must take extra precaution for ensuring the good health of our students. With the many viruses and illnesses that accompany the winter months, please encourage good eating, sleeping habits, and hand washing. If your child is showing symptoms of illness, please keep them at home until symptoms subside. Contact the school and your child’s teacher for missing assignments.

With the onslaught of some substantial winter weather already this season, we may have the potential for remote learning days. To ensure that students are continuing learning opportunities, chromebooks will be sent home when there is a potential of inclement weather. On these days, teachers will teach via Zoom sessions and virtual assignments. We will keep you informed of possible remote learning days. A weather-related announcement could range from transportation adjustments, to starting late, or even closure (rare but possible). The district will try to make such announcements, if needed, by 5:30 a.m. on the day of, and we will communicate that to our parents as quickly as possible.

We hope students took advantage of the Principal’s Holiday Reading Challenge over the extended break. The intent of this challenge is to encourage students to continue reading enjoyable books through the holidays to keep active-learning minds as they return back to a structured academic setting. Thank you, parents, for encouraging your children to participate in this program. Students who have met the Challenge will be rewarded with a fun activity in the next week as we return to school.

We want to keep you informed of where we are in our school STEM Designation process. We have had many parents ask, “What is STEM Designation, and why are we pursuing this?” In response, the Utah State STEM Action Center offers an acknowledgement of great schools who actively enculturate and embed STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) practices into their school programs. Canyon Crest certainly does this, and we think it is important for our school, district, and community to know the many things we do at our school to prepare students for future careers, and success. There are 9 different dimensions, and 37 different elements that must be addressed through narrative and evidence about our school culture, practices, and STEM implementations. Our staff, and various district, parent, and community members have been involved over the past few months in preparing this document for presentation. It has been a rigorous process, but it will be completed by mid-January for designation review. In response to additional questions, this designation does not come with monetary recognition, but we feel Canyon Crest is a remarkably credible school that deserves recognition of its achievements and great practices. As we have been preparing the designation document, this has become even more apparent. I am so impressed with our strong school program, the dedication of teachers and families, and student perseverance that I feel we need to showcase the great things we have to offer our students and community. As we reflect our practices, we recognize that there is always room to grow and improve, and we embrace that! When the document is complete, we are excited to share this with our Canyon Crest community and await to see if the State of Utah designates us as a STEM endorsed school!

Thank you, again, for the rich and inspiring support you bring to our school community. Our school could not be successful without your input and team effort. We are proud of our students, teachers, school programs, and community strength. Together we will continue to educate our youth and prosper in a new and promising New Year.