Eighth-Grade Letters to the Editor

 

The following letters were written by students at Ephraim Middle School in the eighth grade. Their assignment was to write a letter to the editor.

 

 

I am writing to express my concern over the lack of places to ride scooters and bikes in Ephraim. I think Ephraim would benefit from having a skate park in town.

Wasatch Academy recently built a nice skate park. Gunnison and Richfield also have skate parks with metal ramps to ride on.

I would be willing to do fundraisers and service projects to help raise money to build a skate park here in Ephraim. I think a good location would be at the Canyon View Park since it is close to the schools and has enough room.

 

 

 

I think that our county should add more skate parks or places to ride bikes, scooters or skateboards. You’d probably be surprised how many kids like that type of stuff instead of sports. Kids my age are constantly outside riding scooters on rails of stairs or doing tricks on building equipment.

What happens when all of that gets ruined by scooters and skateboards? You’d have to fix it. It would cost quite a bit yes, but it wouldn’t be much more to build a place for the riders to actually ride and do the things they love without damaging anything.

The skate parks wouldn’t have to be big; they would just have to be something. If there were skate parks around here, there would be fewer kids roaming the streets on their bikes, skateboards or scooters. Maybe even fewer kids would be indoors on electronics.

I think adding skate parks in a couple of our towns is an awesome idea, and I think it would make this place a little more fun to live in.

 

 

 

I want to say thank you to all school faculty.

We take all of you for granted; you guys deserve more praise for what you do.

We shouldn’t treat you the way we do. If it were up to me you would be getting paid twice as much.

You help us grow as people and help us get into college. You support us in all school activities. You help strive to better citizens.

There are no words to describe who thankful I am to all the staff of our schools.

I want to give Mr. Lynn Willardson, our vice principal at Ephraim Middle School, and Mr. Tim Miller, our principal, thanks as well. They and other teachers and staff have done so much for us.

So if we ever forget to thank you, we are saying it now. Thank you!

 

 

 

I appreciate the animal rescue shelters in Sanpete County.

We have a lot of strays that don’t have homes. We don’t come to recognize that we should thank these places more often. We should be thankful for places which take in strays dogs and cats.

Sanpete has many people who drop strays into fields to leave them to live on their own. In harsh winters and hot summers, strays can’t live for long.

We have people who have abused dogs and cats and that leave them to die, and the animal rescue groups in Sanpete save them and keep them healthy and strong and find them a home.

If you think about it, would you like to be dropped off somewhere and have nothing?

Some people in Sanpete are kind enough and care for our stray animals—animals that just want to be loved and have a home and family, just like we do.

Thank you to all the animal rescue shelters and the people who help our stray animals.

 

 

 

I would like to express my thanks to the Veterans Administration (VA) hospital in Salt Lake City for taking care of our veterans and making them their top priority. I think what you do is a great idea and a wonderful thing to do.

You guys are open 24 hours and never give up on your patients. That is what people with good hearts and kindness do for a living. I respect that a lot.

My grandpa is a Vietnam veteran with a Purple Heart. He goes up to the VA hospital for a weekly checkup, and they take very good care of my wonderful grandpa. They respect him so much for what he sacrificed, and I wouldn’t wish for a better hospital for my hero.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank the wonderful VA hospital for the amazing “hospitality” they show our veterans.

Thank you veterans also for your sacrifice and service.

 

 

 

I am writing this letter to say thank you to the city councils for restoring the Sanpete County Fairground’s grandstand.

The grandstand was with us from 1920-2017 and has held many important events such as the first years of the Mormon Miracle Pageant and has brought our communities together.

Sadly, after severe thunderstorms on May 22-25, the grandstand was shredded—with pieces of broken lumber and nails scattered around the fairgrounds.

Sanpete County Commissioner Steve Lund said it was a “danger to bystanders.”

It would have been horrible to have a family explore the broken grandstand and have it collapse on them. So what was done was the right thing.

On May 31, 2017, the grandstand was torn down.

As soon as the grandstand was down, our cities started arranging what they wanted to do for 2017 and events that were planned to be held at the fairgrounds.

It brings me excitement and joy every time I drive past the building of the new grandstand, and I can’t wait until the grand opening.

I am so happy that our leadership is bringing back this wonderful part of Sanpete County.

 

 

 

Have you ever seen a dead animal when in the mountains?

I know I hate it when I see a dead animal, especially when it is a mule deer or a bull elk with antlers still on it.

This is what the Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) calls poaching.

Poaching is a very serious crime. Poaching happens all of the time around Sanpete County, and it is not a good thing. When people poach big game animals, we have fewer big game animals when we go hunting, which makes it a lot harder to hunt.

One thing we can do about it is, if we find a dead animal and think it has been poached, then we can contact the DWR and tell them the location of the animal and that we think it has been poached.

We can also just keep an eye out when in the mountains, and if we see something suspicious, then we can report it.

I think that poaching should happen less and that we should all take part to help get rid of poaching.

 

 

 

Why do some kids do stupid things? Is it to impress someone? Or maybe they just think it’s fun.

Well, from my middle school experiences of watching kids, they just think it’s plain out cool.

Yep, running out into the street while closing your eyes to prove how brave you are is way cool!

Or spray painting and vandalizing peoples’ houses will make you very well-known.

If you want to be known in a rebellious trouble kind of way, just do all of these.

How come kids don’t realize how stupid these things are?

I think parents are partly responsible. I think it’s fine to let your kid have a little bit of freedom, but there’s a point where we need to make them stop!

What happens when they’re caught and it’s put on their record?

Now, I know, some kids are probably mad at me for writing this, but stop being mad because, let me tell you, these things are not cool.

They’re just plain out stupid!

 

 

 

I would like to give my vote of thanks to the turkey farmers.

All the turkey farmers have done a lot for us, and I don’t think we have shown our appreciation enough. So I think we need to say thanks to them.

Being a farmer is hard work. They work hard so we can have good turkey on Thanksgiving or any other day.

Taking care of turkeys is not easy work. Farmers have to make sure the turkeys are healthy by checking them frequently. It’s devastating when the turkeys get sick. Turkeys get sick really easily, and it’s the farmers’ responsibility to make sure they don’t get sick.

You may think it’s easy being a turkey farmer, but let me tell you it’s not.

We need to thank our farmers for growing turkeys for us. Sometimes it can be tough, but they just work through it every single day.

So if you see a turkey farmer, say hi to them and tell them thank you.

Let’s give our thanks to the turkey farmers out there who take time out of their lives to put meals on the table for us.

Thank you, turkey farmers, for all you do for us.

 

 

 

My concern for Manti and Ephraim is that we need more businesses.

The reason I say this is when college students graduate, they may want to stay in this wonderful community.

It also doesn’t have to be for college students. It could be for people who move here and are looking for jobs.

I think this would be a great opportunity for the community and for people moving in to Manti and Ephraim.