Southwest Dance Concert!!

Jaiden and Jenna had their dance concert this weekend! There were five Senior girls this year who were showcased throughout the concert (This is Jaiden in the top left corner of the poster). It was a beautiful show! (The whole program is scanned and put in Dropbox if anyone is interested). We will also be getting a DVD of the whole show. I am excited to watch it again when we receive it! Grandma and Grandpa Westra came down for the weekend to watch the concert with us and both girls had several friends who came and watched them also! 

Here is a little "write-up" from Jaiden... 

Here are some of Jaiden's pictures from the show! 

Here are some of Jenna's pictures. She was in a dance called "Mirrored Illusions." She was also in the "The Bridge" song. She had a cool costume which un-snapped from the top to transform into a completely different dress! 

Jaiden's Graduation from Snow Canyon High School!!!

Jaiden graduated from Snow Canyon High School this morning! Jaiden has done very well in high school! She was incredibly involved (a little TOO involved) and accomplished a great deal! When she was doing Sterling Scholar the instructions said that they could link to one on-line document in their portfolio. She could have added a link to a page on the Distinguished Young Women website that had a nice picture and bio of her. That was one idea. Another idea was to link to a blog page. I recommended this to her because then she could basically copy and paste her entire resume into it and easily update it. So check out her blog: JaidenJensen.blogspot.com to get an idea of just how busy this girl was all throughout high school! After Sterling Scholar was finished I added her Sterling Scholar portfolio and some of her other awards to the blog. It is just a fun way to keep everything in one place. 

Now for graduation. Last year was the first time they had graduation on the football field and we ended up on the west bleachers and it was extremely hot and uncomfortable! So this year I vowed to show up an hour early to get seats on the east bleachers. It ended up being more like 45 minutes early, but still early enough for the good seats. It was well worth the extra wait. We were in the shade most of the time and the temperature was very comfortable. Our poor graduates were another story! First of all, the turf is apparently way hotter than the surrounding area. I could feel the temperature rise as soon as we walked on to the football field after the ceremony. Second, they got new caps and gowns this year (I was sad about that because I had just purchased Janelle's cap and gown last year and figured I would get a year off from buying new ones, because I figured that Jaiden could wear hers). But alas, it wasn't meant to be. They changed the caps and gowns so that everyone has the same gown (instead of blue for the boys and green for the girls, like they did in the past.) The material is also much thicker material and so our poor graduates were probably dying! 

Since Jaiden was graduating with a 4.0, she got to sit on the front row and be in the first group of students to graduate. (She is the first child in our family to graduate with a 4.0. The older four children all had a 3.9, which is awesome too!)  She also sang the musical number with the Madrigals. I scanned in the entire program and put it in Dropbox if anyone is interested in it. I also cut and pasted a few things from the program into a collage for this post. After graduation Rick and I took Jaiden out to eat at a restaurant called Bishops. Then Jaiden took a nap and headed to a dance rehearsal. (The busyness won't let up for her until her Senior recital is finished next weekend!) Then she headed to Grad Night with her friends! Congratulations, Jaiden!! (And congratulations to us as parents -- five down, two more to go!!) 

I just have to explain the significance of her "splits" picture. Just a few days ago a "memory" came up on Facebook that I had written in 2010 after Jaiden's kindergarten program: 

Right near the end of her kindergarten program, Jaiden gets down on the floor (in her dress) and does the splits. Ummm...sweetie, I don't think that is part of the program! I think only those of us in the front row saw her but I was laughing so hard that tears were rolling down my face!

You can see that post here: https://wendyjensen.blogspot.com/2010/05/kindergarten-program.html

Executive Council Dinner

All of the executive council members and their parents were invited over to the Student Body President's house tonight for a nice catered dinner and humorous awards. It was nice! Rick and I commented on how we really didn't know most of these kids! Jaiden got the award, "Most likely to sing the national anthem at next year's opening assembly." It was fitting because Jaiden sang the national anthem SO many times at school events!! Jaiden enjoyed being on the executive council this past year, although it was A LOT of work!! 

Seminary Graduation!

Tonight was Seminary graduation for Jaiden! Jaiden and Emily were asked to do the musical number and they sang Rick's arrangement of "Israel Israel, God is Calling." If I am able to get a video of them singing it some time I will add it to this post. 'They did a nice job and the speakers did a good job also. I am so grateful for Seminary!! 

Jaiden -- Pre-School Graduation and Seminary Graduation! 

(Jaiden and Emily -- 5th grade and 12th grade!) 

Senior Honors Night

Tonight was Jaiden's Senior Honors Night! We were a little worried because we "heard" that it could be up to three hours long! But it was only 90 minutes long, so we survived, ha ha! Maybe they spread that rumor so that people are pleasantly surprised when they get out "early!" 

Jaiden was awarded with lots of awards:  Academic Letter, Gold Warrior Shield, Eagle Warrior Award (Executive Council Leadership Award), Student Ambassador, Sterling Scholar, Academic All-State in not only one, but TWO, categories (theatre and vocal) and the Seal of Biliteracy! She was surprised when they informed her a few days ago that she was getting the Seal of Biliteracy. She had three years of Spanish in high school, but didn't think anything of it. But apparently her AAPPLE score earned her this award, along with just 12 other Seniors. She also received certificates for all of the college scholarships she was offered (along with all of the other Seniors on the program).  

Jaiden and Emily were asked to provide a musical number and they sang "Found/Tonight" an arrangement combining "You Will Be Found" from Dear Evan Hansen with "Tonight" from Hamilton. It was very pretty!

I was really touched at the end of the awards night when they announced the "Heart of a Warrior Awards." One in particular was a Hispanic girl who moved here from Honduras. The person announcing her told a little of her story. When she moved here she only had ten credits and so she was really behind. She also didn't speak any English. She passed her classes here by taking a picture of the assignments, translating them unto Spanish, doing the assignments in Spanish, and then translating them into English. She did this for EVERY ASSIGNMENT! I am not sure how this was done (Google Translate maybe?) The person explaining all of this leaned over and whispered something to her and then said "I was just telling her that I would explain all of this to her in Spanish later." 

Since I work as an interpreter I was shaking my head and thinking, "Why didn't the school bring in a Spanish interpreter for this awards ceremony? Here she is getting this really awesome award and probably doesn't even know what is going on!" She was standing on the stage in a full-length red satin prom dress while the audience was cheering and clapping and giving her a standing ovation. I had no idea who she was, but I was so touched by her story that I had tears running down my face. I get so excited about all of the awards and accomplishments that my children receive, but forget that there are so many students who don't have the same kind of privileges and support that our children have. Tonight was a humbling reminder of all of students that go to our school that struggle everyday in areas that we simply take for granted. I felt grateful that we could be there to see her receive this honor. As Auggie Pullman stated in the book Wonder, "Everyone should get a standing ovation at least once in their life...!"   

Broadway is Back: A Musical Revue

I thoroughly enjoyed the Musical Revue this year! There were 18 songs total and Jaiden was in 11 of them! Here are some photos and videos!!  

"Welcome to the Renaissance" 

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman: "You've Got Possibilities"

Bells are Ringing: "It's a Perfect Relationship" (Emily Williams)

Damn Yankees: "Six Months Out of Every Year"

 

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better from "Annie Get Your Gun"

(Ali Alverson and Maxwell Petralia)

Miss Saigon: "I Still Believe"

Addams Family: "Just Around the Corner"

Catch Me If You Can: "Jet Set"

 A Bronx Tale: "Out of Your Head"

Thoroughly Modern Millie: "Forget About the Boy"

All Shook Up: "C-mon Everybody"

A Bronx Tale: "The Choices We Make"

Beautiful: "I Feel The Earth Move"

Curtain Call!!

After the show...