Wednesday, September 28, 2011

CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE ON MY FORMER STUDENT!

This article is about my former student, David Western, and his little brother, Andrew.  Their mother is Linda Western . . . who retired from Alpine Elementary last year as a 1st grade teacher.




Local band finds success in New York City
September 23, 2011 1:24 pm  • 
Do people think of Seattle or Austin, Texas, as a hometown for a successful rock band? How about Alpine? It may not be at the top of most people's list, but one band, Highbench, is proving to fans that great music can originate in Utah.
Band members David Western (lead vocals), his younger brother Andrew Western (bass), Shane Fillmore (drums), and Christian Muir (lead guitar) grew up together on High Bench Road. The boys found common ground in music as a creative outlet and in snowboarding Utah's beautiful mountains. David, Shane and Christian all graduated from American Fork High School, with Andrew following later from the newly built Lone Peak High School.
"We all met and started playing in different bands together throughout high school. We all seemed to gravitate towards playing music early on as kids growing up in Alpine and throughout school," said one member of Highbench in an email interview.
Eventually, the bandmates pooled their talent and decided to honor their common roots calling themselves High Bench, which gradually morphed into the one-word moniker they answer to today.
"Back when we started our band, online social networking, let alone online anything, was still in its infancy and had not taken hold yet. We took the old-school route, jumped in a small pickup truck, and decided to drive to New York City. The idea was it would open up different doors for us and give us more opportunities to share our music and hopefully make a career out of it."
Highbench has a haunting, melodic, emotional sound with dark harmonies and lyrics that typify the human experience.
"Our music style has obviously morphed, changed, and matured over the years so describing our sound to others is always a pretty tough task, but we'd like to think Stadium Rock!" a member joked.
Since signing a publishing deal with Primary Wave Music Publishing in early 2005, Highbench has been featured on television and in soundtracks, commercials, and video games.
The band has permanently settled into the New York music scene, performing more than 200 concerts there, and thoroughly enjoying the "energy, art and culture, diversity, opportunities, and endless music clubs," the metropolis has to offer, but their roots remain in Utah.
"We are always coming back and forth home to Alpine, then back out to New York City," David Western said. "As for permanently moving back, buying a home and living in Alpine, well, I think any of us would love to eventually be able to do that. Alpine is truly a beautiful one of a kind place."
As for what comes next, the band has been touring and will shortly begin recording their next full-length album.
"We are beginning work on a new music video, as well as preparing to release live footage we've been collecting and have shot recently. We should have that up and available on our web page and various social sites before the end of the year."
More information about Highbench and their music is available on their website, highbenchmusic.com. They can also be found on Facebook, YouTube, My Space, iTunes, and Twitter.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

CLEAR CREEK 2011

On September 13 and 14
we went to
CLEAR CREEK!

We loaded the bus

 Riding the bus

 Jane and her mom.

  We passed Scofield Reservoir, and after 90 minutes,
arrived at
Clear Creek!



We got settled into our cabins and went and
ate our lunches in the trees.



 Next, we started our rotations.  We had six of them.
Mohawk Walk
Wild Woozy and TP Shuffle
Whale Watch and Nitro Crossing
Bingo
Cups and Sandtrap
Hats

 Starting "Mohawk Walk"


Walking on the cable

 You have to have a great spotter

 This is the spot where we were told to 
"Swing Like Tarzan, and
Yell Like Jane!"
Our own Jane, was really good!
 Chandler

Jackson


Jane and Ari change positions
 
 Mrs. Gillett tries her hand at it


 A "Proud Miss Mitchell Moment!"
Mrs. Gillett is a former student of Miss Mitchell's!
1982-1983


 Casey and Kobe


 Kobe

Lydia takes a turn


Lydia's mom gets an assist from Kobe.
(Her husband went to high school with Miss Mitchell!)
 
 Deisy

 Mason and his dad


 It's easy for Deisy to walk on the cable



 Mrs. Michals tries it

 Aspen

 Jakob and Dyson


 
Vienna

 Jessica and Bo


 Dyson and Mr. Gooch


 Aspen and Jakob


 Dyson

 Lauren and Erin


 Sage

 Payton

Mr. Page (another Alpine Elementary alum) and Sage
 
 Erin and Lauren


TP Shuffle
How to figure out to get the entire team to
switch places on the log, without stepping off



Nitro Crossing
How to figure out how to get your entire team to swing on the rope
to the platform, without touching the ground





Scavenger Hunt
We had to find a . . .
Hawaiian Lei
Chinese YoYo
Glow in the Dark Bouncy Ball
Key Chain
Friendship Bracelet





We checked out our "cabins"

We ate in the dining room



 We had skits








RELAY
We had to race to the chair
Get a balloon
Blow it up
Pop it
And follow the instructions on the paper
Pretty fun! 
















We danced
(Thanks, Miss Larsen)








We did "The Limbo"








We had fun in our cabins




On day 2, we had six more rotations:
Necklaces
Hike
Golf Ball Carry and 2 x 4
Soccer
Storytelling
Musical chairs

Necklaces



2 x 4
We had to figure out how to cross on these blocks
and pick them up as we went 


Golf ball carry
We had to figure out how to all lift the board with a golf ball on it,
and carry it a certain distance 
without dropping it


We jumped for joy that we came to Clear Creek!
Vienna, Erin, and Deisy


THANKS TO OUR GREAT PARENT HELPERS:
Mrs. Archibald
Mrs. Arnold
 Mrs. Gillett (former sudent)
Mrs. Greer (has known Miss Mitchell since age 12)
Mr. Higbee (former student) 
Mr. Ihrke
Mrs. Neves
Mr. Page (former Alpine Elementary alum)

 Our group...with Mr. Page taking the picture.

WE HAD SOOOO MUCH FUN!!!