Rockette Review

I can't believe it has already been a year since I started coaching Drill Team, but it has. Many, many early mornings later, with countless hours of practice, numerous competitons and a ton of awards later we are ending this amazing year. Tomorrow, Wednesday the 20th (aka my birthday :) ) at 7:00pm we will be having our end of the year review. I would like to formally invite you all to come and share this evening with me. The review will be held at Rockwell Charter High School in Eagle Mountain. It won't cost ou anything to get in so just come on out for a night of fun. Hope to see you there!

A visit from the Queen's Royal British Guard...

On Tuesday Britain’s Queen Royal Guard visited the school I work at and showed our students how the changing of the guards is done. They soldiers, of Britain’s Grenadier Guards Army Infantry Regiment, were visiting Utah this week as they are doing training before being deployed to Afghanistan. Because we are so close to Camp Williams and Eagle Mountain is always doing some kind of Tribute to the Troops, our school was chosen for their demonstration. I have to be honest, I thought the idea was cool but wasn’t going to attend the demonstration as I had other big projects to be working on. It wasn’t until the secretary told me to go out and get some fresh air that I was even semi interested in watching. Boy was I glad that I did. The changing of the guards is an AMAZING show (if that’s even proper to call it) and I literally stood there the entire time with my jaw dropped and in complete awe!!!! Every step was in precise unison; they marched from a quick step to a steady slow step then turned and stopped on command. Every march was a stomping type motion; they have spikes in the bottom of their shoes that they are supposed to dig into the ground as the do every march. It was so amazing how they could stay on pace because the beats kept changing and never once was one of them off!!! Because the ceremonial informs are so big and elaborate, only three of the soldiers wore their traditional red and black Buckingham Palace attire with the big Bearskin cap. The rest of the guard wore their camouflage fatigues, so I can only imagine how amazing the real deal is! After the ceremonial demonstration was over the guard members played some tag football with the students and took pictures.


These are some pictures of the staff at Rockwell with the guard members.

I have to say that I feel very lucky to have been able to watch and interact with the Queens Royal Guard Members. I consider it a once in a lifetime opportunity. Teaching at a High School really is probably the most enjoyable and rewarding job ever! I’ve experienced so many life experiences in such a short time, who would of thought!!!!

Relay for Life

Hi all,

I’m writing this post to hopefully rally some troops! As many of
you know, I’m involved in an amazing charity called “Relay for
Life” in West Jordan. Relay For Life is the American Cancer
Society’s signature activity. It offers everyone an opportunity to
participate in the fight against cancer. Teams of people from all
walks of life will camp out at West Jordan Park on June 26th -27th.
We have fun while raising much-needed funds to fight cancer and raise
awareness of cancer prevention and treatment.

Our goals are to:

• Celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer. The strength
of survivors inspires others to continue to fight.
• Remember loved ones lost to the disease. At Relay, people who have
walked alongside people battling cancer can grieve and find healing.
• Fight Back. We Relay because we have been touched by cancer and
desperately want to put an end to the disease.

I’d like to share with you the reason I Relay:

I relay because: In my lifetime, I’d like to see the day we find a
cure for cancer!

I have seen too many close family and friends taken by cancer.
October of 2007, I lost one of my very close friends, Amy Greetham, to
Ewings Sarcoma. It was day none of us ever want to see. We tend to get in a habit of thinking something like this will never happen to anyone close to us, but it does. Amy was such a fighter, although she was diagnosed with this terrible disease she never let herself get down. She lived everyday to the fullest and kept the most positive outlook on life. She was a very inspirational girl and did a lot for this
charity, even when she was so sick. Since then, I have wanted to
carry on her legacy and try to help reach her goal of putting an end
to this awful disease. I miss Amy everyday of my life and feel so
much sadness every time I hear that a good friend or family member has
lost someone to cancer. It is the hardest thing to watch someone so
close to you, suffer so much.

I have also seen the benefits of cancer research and know with more time and effort from us all we will see a day that a cure is found. I have a sister who has spent a lifetime battling cancer. She has overcome the fight not once but twice all by the young age of 37. Like Amy, she is such a fighter and has so much love and excitement for life. We hope the fight is over, but know the chance is always there. With that said, I’m asking for your help to join our charity in hopes
that no one else we love, loses someone special to them, due to
cancer. You can be involved as little as or as much as you’d like.
Some ways to help are below:

Start a Team: Team Captains and Team Members are the "foot-soldiers"
in the fight against cancer. Team Captains lead their team by
representing them at monthly update meetings and are the liaisons
between the Event Committee and your team. Team Captains organize the
team's participation in activities before and throughout the night of
the event. The teams also set up activities and booths to sell goods
to the public to raise funds.


Recruit Survivors: If you know of a survivor that you think should be
honored, please give me their contact info. as we would love to honor
them.

Corporate Sponsorship: Have some pull in your company or think the
company you work for would be interested in donating for a tax write
off? We advertise very heavily to the huge crowd we draw and allow
companies to set up a booth to sell goods at the relay if they’d
like.

Youth Involvement: Start a team of children to camp out for the night
and be a part of this fun event. Involve their schools to help raise
money. Ask me how….

Purchase/Sell Luminarias: During the event, we honor our loved ones
with the luminaria ceremony. The luminaria bags are $5 and are
usually decorated to honor someone who has either beat, is beating or
has passed away from cancer. If you’d like some, let me know and I’ll
either deliver them or mail them to you.

Donate Yard Sale Items: We are having a yard sale the morning of May
16th in the southwest parking lot of 7800 S. and Redwood Rd. If you
have anything you’d like to donate, let me know and we’ll arrange to
have it picked up. (No clothes please.) All proceeds go to the
charity.

Become a Committee Member/Volunteer: We have a couple positions still
available if you’d like to be involved individually. A committee
member has a specific role, where as a volunteer helps the day of. If
you are interested, let me know and I’ll get you added to our google
group!

Pass Along! Send this to anyone you think would be
interested.

Thanks for your support! For more information about the Relay, visit
www.relayforlife.org/westjordanut