Arrival Day Approaching

Although some students have arrived on campus, most of this year’s Wasatch Academy student body will be arriving on campus Monday. It’s always exciting to have school starting again, and this year is no different. There are more than 300 students from across the United States and more than 30 countries, and the school has opened a new dorm and will soon have a new studio arts building operational.

For those coming on Monday, here is an agenda for the day. You’ll begin by checking in at the Tigers Den and progress from there. Parents, remember that Monday night is a mixer with Wasatch Academy faculty.

For anyone coming to Sanpete County early, a trip to nearby Spring City is recommended. The annual Plein Air arts competition is wrapping up Saturday, but the galleries, historic homes and the new Das Cafe should be open. Although rain is in the forecast off and on, it should be nice enough (most of the time) to hit one of two nearby golf courses, go hiking in the nearby mountains or take a drive to see the early fall foliage.

Girls Volleyball: Let’s Rock

The Lady Tigers volleyball team do not have another match until mid-September. Until then, they can continue to grow as a unit while also getting pumped for region play with this video. Thanks to our Assistant Communications Director, Lori Wait, and the unofficial fourth member of the communications team, Bob Hicken, for producing this 30-second clip. (Note for those at work: It gets loud, so you may want to turn the volume down a bit. Or crank it — after all, it’s a Friday).

Wasatch Academy Wire: Aug. 30

The new issue of the Wasatch Academy Wire newsletter is now available. We have unveiled a whole new design, and the distribution is now powered by MailChimp. Features this week include a final farewell to Don Chin, since the our last issue was queued for publishing before he passed. There are also round-ups of sports action, a report on the transfer of the First Presbyterian Church to Wasatch Academy and information about upcoming Tiger travels. 

The wire will be distributed weekly on Thursday while school is in session. If you aren’t receiving it already, we’d love to add you to our mailing list.

Girls Volleyball: Improving Against Waterford

The Wasatch Academy girls volleyball team continues to improve, despite being an inexperienced squad that is learning to play as a team while also mastering the fundamentals of the sport.

Each game brings new encouragements for Coach Cindy Shogren, who said the girls have learned from their trips to tournaments in St. George and Blanding, as well as a non-region game at Dugway. That was the case again on Tuesday night against Waterford. This was the Lady Tigers first home match (more pictures are on the Wasatch Academy Facebook page).

The junior varsity team lost 14-25, 13-25, 15-13, 9-15. However, they won one set despite having two players who only arrived Monday. Team leaders included Nashuba Hudso, who tallied four service aces, and Kelly Hyatt, who contributed two kills.

The varsity team lost in three sets, 12-25, 12-25, 8-25. But Coach Shogren said the team is getting more competitive, and she had some positive takeaways from the game. For example, she pointed to Matisse Melendres, who was able to get her overhand serve in the opponent’s court for the first time.

“The girls demonstrated a huge improvement in their team movement, chasing down errant balls and controlling many saving passes over the net.  The team is still extremely ‘young’ with 5 players who first started playing VB 2 weeks ago, and Sam Duffield and Nashuba Hudson are the only two returning players from last year,” Shogren said. “The girls will continue to improve their skills and their team play.”

Today Magazine Released

The annual alumni magazine, Wasatch Academy Today, has likely already hit the mailboxes of most alumni and current parents. This week, the magazine is also being released digitally as both a Flash-based Flip Book on the website or a PDF that can be downloaded.

This year’s focus was telling the Wasatch Academy story with pictures more than words. To accomplish that, designer Lori Wait (our assistant communications director) decided to use a square, 11×11 template that would feel distinctive. The magazine was also printed on heavier stock paper with a glossy finish, making the magazine closer to a coffee table book than a magazine meant to be toss and read.

Highlights of the magazine include reports on the service learning trips students took around the world, the growing strength of the athletics department and updates on alumni from the 1950s through the late 2000s.

For those familiar with the amazing things happening on campus, the Today Magazine will be a pleasing reminder of those accomplishments. For those who have lost track of the school over the past few years, it will hopefully provide a sample of the incredible diversity of the student body, amazing growth of the campus and the many accomplishments of the students.

We’d love to hear thoughts on the magazine — both praises and criticisms are welcome — on the magazine. Drop them in comments, and also include something you found in the magazine that was surprising.

Wasatch Academy Today (PDF)

Students: The First Wave

Roll out the red carpet. Queue the trumpets. Roll out the banners. Today, students begin arriving on campus. They include new international students, anybody playing a fall sport, and STUCO members. The rest of the students return next Monday.

Even though it’s a relatively small number of the total student body, the week will be busy for everyone. New international students will spend their time getting comfortable with their new home in the heart of Utah while also taking evaluations and signing up for classes. A full schedule can be found here.

Sports will not only begin practicing, but some even have games. On Tuesday, the volleyball team plays on campus on Tuesday against Waterford,  girls tennis has a home match against Legacy Preparatory Academy and the cross country runners travel for a preseason race at Spanish Fork. On Thursday, the girls tennis team travels to Waterford.

Otherwise, students will be enjoying the gorgeous weather as summer rolls into fall on campus and prepping themselves for what is going to be a great school year. Go Tigers!

Cross Country: SUU Invitational

UPDATE: The three girls who competed were Elinor Thorp: (26:17), Caoty Howard: (27:06) and Caroline Schuh (33:15). Also added a picture of Jack McCulloch.

Wasatch Academy cross country runners competed early Saturday in the Southern Utah University Invitational against about a dozen schools, many of them from the larger 3A classification. The runners are primarily day students because sports camp doesn’t start until Monday.

Three boys ran in the varsity race and one ran junior varsity. Three girls also ran but the results are not available yet on the race website. They will be added as soon as possible. For some context, the 18:02 run by Jack McCulloch would have been good enough for a 11th place finish in the 2A state championships last year, so the early results would seem to be encouraging.

The cross country team will next travel for a preseason race in Spanish Fork. It is a region race for North Sanpete, but Wasatch Academy runners will use it to further fine tune their legs.

Varsity Boys (85 runners total)

• 34th: McCulloch, Jack Wasatch Academy 18:02.00
• 59th: Larson, Weston Wasatch Academy 18:57.70
• 65th: Howard, Collin Wasatch Academy 19:15.40

JV Boys (137 runners total)

• 86th Taylor, James Wasatch Academy 21:42.80

Vietnam: An Alumnus Video

Daniel Cottam and Spencer Dryden, both class of 2012 graduates, sent us this video (also embedded below) of Daniel visiting Vietnam over the summer. It’s fun and well-produced, and worth watching to the end.

At Wasatch Academy, we love to see updates likes this from our alumni. Anybody else have videos of their adventures? What about a lip dub? Send us a link, tweet it (@WATigers) either through email or (as Spencer did for this video) by shooting us a link on Facebook.

Lady Tigers volleyball @ Dugway

Although sports camp doesn’t start until next week, the Wasatch Academy Lady Tigers volleyball team has already started their preseason. Wednesday the girls made the lovely trek to Dugway and continued their early season improvement.

Although the varsity squad lost in three sets, Coach Cindy Shogren said they played Dugway tough despite many of the varsity players doing double-duty on the junior varsity squad. That squad did pull out a victory in five sets, but it took its toll.

“The girls played very hard and had some good pass, set and hit opportunities,” Shogren said in an email. “The girls continue to improve with every match.”

Highlights from the game included a solo stuff block by Fatim Samake and 15 services without an error by Feather Perry. Bruna Toto, the setter, had 4 kills in the junior varsity match.

The team travels to Blanding this weekend for a tournament that begins Friday. Their first home game will be Tuesday.

 

Best in State – Honesty

Once again, Wasatch Academy has triumphed in a Best of State Utah competition. Already the recipient of the 2012 Best of State Statue for Education and a three-time winner of the Best Private School K-12 medal, the school can now lay claim to the title of Most Honest Golfers.

The Most Honest Golfers award was hard-earned Tuesday by a foursome of 2011 Distinguished Alumnus Ray Kier (’53), Admissions Director Carol Reeve and her husband Bill, and yours truly (remember, the award is for honesty … humility is a different virtue …). To win the award, the foursome (well, not necessarily Ray Kier) had to slice many drives, miss multiple 10-foot birdie putts and pitch balls from beneath trees and off of bare dirt.

At the end of the day, the hard work placed the foursome at the  top of the leader board — at least, if the leader board were like less gentlemanly sports that reward high scores. For their efforts, the group received lawn furniture. (As an added bonus, Carol Reeve also won power tools in a random drawing).

The tournament was hosted at the beautiful, Jack Nicklaus-designed Red Ledges Golf Course in Heber City by the Best of State organization. Wasatch Academy was invited because of their Best of State victories, and after this virtuous showing, we fully expect to return next year.