Some things I remember about Jr. High…
Emily Sanderson
In my Advanced English class we were assigned to make a life
map. It was a pretty cool project. When we were done, we got to share them with
our class. There was a girl in my class,
Emily Sanderson, who had the temple on her life map, so I decided that I would
talk to her later and ask her if she was Mormon. Of course, she was, and that
was that. We became best friends, and really—she’s the one who got me through
my 8th grade year. Not because I struggled really, but she was just
such a huge part of my life that year. Really, it’s Emily’s fault I got a crush
on Ronny Bjarnason, because she pointed him out to me in English and told me
that he was also a member, and that his family was very spiritual. But that’s
another topic for another day.
Friendship Bracelets
When I was in Jr. High, I learned how to make friendship
bracelets. I have no idea who taught me how, or where I learned the skill, but
learn it I did. Pretty much everywhere I went, I could be seen with a group of
strings safety pinned to my jeans, in various stages of being knotted into
bracelets. People started offering to buy them from me for a dollar, so I started
selling them. A three string bracelet sold for a dollar, the thicker the
bracelet, the more I would charge. I made some with 7 strings that I would get
$5 for. People would give me orders for certain colors, for sports teams or
school colors or whatever, and I would deliver. Even my Spanish teacher, Mr.
Jackson, bought a bracelet—his was probably the biggest one I made, he wanted
it really thick.
Kathy Fisher
My English teacher was Kathy Fisher, and I really, really
liked her. I’m sure it helped that I like English, but she was just a great
teacher. We had a lot of fun creative writing assignments, and she gave awesome
feedback, and she was just a really good teacher. When I went off to high
school, I would cut through the Jr. High on my way home and sometimes I would
stop by her classroom to say hello. When I was a junior or senior, I had done a
school fund raiser, and someone stole the money ($250!) out of my bedroom
drawer. I assume it was one of my siblings’ friends or something. At any rate,
I was expected to turn that money in to the school, and there was no way my
parents had it to give me. One day I was so worried about it, and Mrs. Fisher
asked me what was up, so I told her. I did not ask her to, but she offered to
pay the money for me, and I could pay her back in installments. She saved me! I
turned the money in, and then every time I babysat or cleaned house for people,
I would pay my tithing and save the rest for her, which I would drop off on my
visits to her classroom. Years later, when Jared and I got engaged, I sent her
a wedding announcement, and she came to our reception. She was probably my
favorite teacher I ever had.
Salad Bar
Lunch at TJHS was great. There was a cafeteria, but we were
not required to eat in there. I remember eating lunch with all the LDS kids out
on the grass under the trees. Specifically, I ate with Paul Jensen and Holly
Hooge, and I’m sure there were others. We didn’t all have lunch at the same
time, so I’m not sure who all ate lunch with us. I remember Paul because he was
a great friend, and I remember Holly because she was hilariously funny. My
favorite thing about cafeteria food was the salad bar. I had never seen a
school cafeteria where you could serve yourself from a salad bar, and it was
the coolest thing to me. I had a salad every day, and it was SO good!
Jazz Band
TJHS had a Jazz Band that met in the morning on certain days
before school. (Maybe every day?) My friend Paul played the piano for jazz
band, and he was so good that he could turn his body around, mid-song, and keep
playing amazing music with his hands behind his back. I swear it’s the coolest
thing I’ve ever seen. I had several friends in the jazz band, and I went to
watch them practice every morning.
