Story by Kailen Stucki

With nearly 12,000 new students flooding into schools last year, The Utah State Board of Education found a stress in providing the proper education for these students. Utah turned to the idea of passing a new law that would encourage more teachers to teach the increasing number of students in schools. This new law allows individuals to retain a teaching license with lesser criteria to become a certified educator. The logic of this new strategy was to fill in the gap of the lack of teachers and feed the 12,000 students the education they need.

Some might agree that the future of education in Utah is on shaky grounds. Because of the shortage of teachers impacting the schools, there was a need for a quick solution. While most teachers quit after their first year, their decline does not suffice for the growth of students each year. Deseret News reported that the percentage of teachers leaving weighed in around 42%. In an attempt to fix this issue, the Utah State Board of Education voted for a new teaching license that allows individuals with a bachelor’s degree and other proper reviews to teach in schools. Education and teaching go beyond lecturing the basic education one must have an understanding of classroom management and valuable credentials. This new law is thought by many, including teachers Karli Gilette and Jane Smith*, to limit both the Utah education values and qualified educators.

The University of Utah education program is a four-year lecture and fifth-year student teaching sequence. These classes go into depth on beneficial ways to teach students, how to handle classrooms, what to do with students who are behind, how to teach ESL students, and many other beneficial topics. To better prepare education majors, the U has future teachers student teach in a class for a year for a better hands-on experience. It is a long program with a lot of work, but the U wants students to be ready. It seems almost ironic how multiple universities stress the importance of fully developing an understanding of how to teach, but the Utah State Board of Education is accepting anyone and whatever knowledge they have to teach our future of students. A fifth-year student teacher in the University of Utah Education Department, Karli Gilette shares her thoughts about the new law. She values her year of student teaching and has learned the best ways to help the students, but she finds the law creating tension and stress in the schools. Not only does this law set back the future of the students’ education, it sets other teachers behind as well. Gilette believes “This new law is backfiring every situation.” Although this law provides the amount of teachers needed in the schools, Gilette finds that these individuals could be missing out on five years of treasured knowledge. “It’s been my most valuable year, I’m happy to be student teaching. If you don’t complete the education program you miss out on opportunities to learn the best way to help the students.”

The less than ideal monetary factor of teaching is an influence to current and future teachers. Utah’s teacher salary is a low budget and educators are finding other ways and jobs to makes ends meet. Between their crunched school day hours and after school preparation and meetings, most teachers have little to no time for extra work. With the Utah State Board of Education’s starting pay being $34,000, there is no surprise why many teachers are financially frustrated with the unfair ratio of their previous years of schooling and over-working with a low salary. Now with the new law, teachers jump into the $34,000 without the required education degrees. While raising the compensation seems likes a rational idea, an increase in taxes fires back. Teachers are quitting, students are coming and Utah laws are still struggling.

Jane Smith, a fourth-grade teacher of three years shares how she has been affected by the teacher shortage. She speaks to me about the new coworkers that are specialized in special education and not certified for fourth-grade education. Because they graduated with a different degree, there is a difference in the ability to control a large classroom because their degree specialized with small classrooms. “Teaching is so much more than just learning the material and liking kids; it is managing 25+ students at one time, teaching students at their level (which takes training and lots of practice), it takes child development knowledge and so much more.” It is no surprise that this law has shaken up the schools and been an adjustment for all the teachers, and the promise of filling classrooms with new teachers is not as hopeful as it seemed and is not in the best interest of the students.

While the schools struggle with the lack of teachers and unqualified individuals, there is a hope for a long-term law passed soon to prevent these issue and find a permanent solution. A potential solution to this could be having the prospective teachers take specific classes to better prepare them for managing the students and classrooms. Promising enough, the law is being altered and tweaked at each meeting and discussed by teachers everywhere. Students deserve the finest education, and Utah is working to provide the necessary means. Until then, teachers like Jane Smith will continue to believe that, “Having teachers without an education degree teaching school is absolutely crazy.”

*Name change due to personal privacy

By Jacob Sebert

“We are in the business of DOING”, says Taylor Randall, Dean of the David Eccles School of Business. There has been a lot of talk about Utah’s state of entrepreneurship in the last couple years. The New York Times and Washington Post have named Utah the next Silicon Valley. However, Utah has much more than just tech startups. Forbes ranked Utah the #1 state for business four out of the last five years. From energy to software and even medical devices, Utah has it all. What makes Utah such a fertile area for business and entrepreneurship? Is all the hype real?

As you walk through the brand new 20,000 square foot Lassonde Institute, you can feel the creative energy within the building. This is home to many young entrepreneurs and is not located in Silicon Valley, rather the Silicon Slopes. At the base of the Wasatch Mountains, the Lassonde Institute of Entrepreneurship, “provides people, mentors, information, and an avenue to take theoretical concepts and turn them into practice” says Dolly Holt a bioengineering post doctorate student and inventor.

Pierre Lassonde, founder and chair of the Franco Nevada Corporation and Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, believes that we can develop an ecosystem of entrepreneurs and in return create tens of thousands of jobs within the state. “You’ve got jobs, and well-paying jobs because they are in the high technology industry.” Pierre knows that not every student is going to become an entrepreneur but if one does create a company with jobs, it will positively affect this area.

Thad Kelling, the marketing manager at Lassonde institute, believes the institute will “help many students launch startup companies, which often stay in Utah and help grow jobs and revenue for the state. These startups employ local people, and they are utilizing services and business in the state.” He also shared why he believes Utah has been so successful in business. “Utah is a place where businesses of all sizes can start, grow and thrive. We see this now in our community with large companies choosing to relocate to Utah.”

University of Utah is not the only one with an entrepreneurship program. Brigham Young University has had an entrepreneurship and technology program since the late 1980’s. Utah State University also has the Jeffrey D. Clark center for entrepreneurship. All of these universities are designed to take students through the stages of new venture creation such as opportunity assessment, business model development, planning, funding, and marketing.

Taylor Randall, Dean of the David Eccles School of Business, believes that state of entrepreneurship in Utah has increased and developed. “I see more and more students starting companies, finding success, and then mentoring others. In this state, entrepreneurship is a team sport. Our students work with successful entrepreneurs to learn and grow their ideas.” Dean Randall sees the Lassonde Institute as being very helpful to the economy of Utah. “In the information age, economies are fueled by ideas and the Lassonde Institute propels student ideas into jobs and income for the Utah economy.”

One entrepreneur who was lured by Utah’s business appeal is Todd Pedersen, founder and CEO of Vivint. After he sold his first endeavor, a pest control company, Pedersen started providing smart home security based out of Provo. Now Vivint is a $527 million company with 7,000 employees. Theo Zourzouvillys, CTO at Jive Communications, originally working in England, moved to Utah because of its “serene setting and family-first ethos”. There are many reasons for Utah’s appeal to business. The 5% flat corporate tax rate and continued job growth rate are just a couple.

Utah has one of the nations highest job growth rates of approximately 3%.

Utah’s economy is ranked at number three with a 2.8 percent growth in GDP since last year. This is the third highest rate in the nation. Utah is one of the 10 states with AAA bond rating from all three agencies. The housing market is also one of the healthiest in the nation at the moment. For the fourth year in a row the state came first in the 2015 Pollina Corporate Real Estates ten pro-business states list. Utah businesses have attracted $732 million in venture capital last year, according to the National Venture Capital Association. Salt Lake City and Provo are amid the top three, dollar per deal averages for VC funding across the nation (Provo-Orem at $51.3 million, and Salt Lake City at $17.2 million).

A study done in 2015 by the Praxis Strategy Group for the U.S. Founder of Commerce Foundation ranked Utah first for innovation and entrepreneurship, second for high-tech performance, third for economic performance, fifth for transportation and trade, and seventh for business climate. It’s no wonder that Utah’s economy is thriving.

Utah has a diversified economy, which makes it so successful compared to other states. As Governor Gary Herbert would say “we don’t put all our eggs in one basket”. If one sector is down, the other sectors are up. For example North Dakota has a great economy but when oil prices drop the economy suffers. The same goes for Alaska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Utah has had a drop in mining and natural resource development, however the state still has 3.5% unemployment and 3.3% job growth. Utah is a wonderful place to start a business because of its stable economy and business friendly environment. Come take a ride and experience the Silicon Slopes.

Krista Mitchell

Trump. The effect that President-elect Trump has had upon our nation has been incredibly vast. There have been riots across the United States.

Looking at the generalized effect has ranged from dismal to frightening, as those who support Trump have ranged from secretive about their support, to extremely ostentatious and violent. . Trump and his supporters have heavily discriminated against one subgroup, the LGBTQ+ community.

This discrimination can be seen as he has made it clear that he does not support marriage equality, by comparing marriage to putters and essentially calling gay marriage unattractive. Trump has also supported bills like house bill 2 for North Carolina, which blocks transgender individuals from using the bathrooms of the gender that they identify with.

This seemingly hostile individual coming into power has the potential to cause major changes in the communities within the United States and it seemingly has. Looking at the community of the University of Utah, there are some that are attempting to hold onto the hope that Trump will still do great things for the community. Within the community of students at the University of Utah is the LGBT community at the U.

The LGBT community at the University of Utah has a longstanding history of being highly inclusive through accepting anyone into the community regardless of whether or not they identify as being LGBT or simply an ally.

I interviewed Gabriella Blanchard who works with the LGBT center.

Gabriella told me that there has been an influx of students “Processing it a lot in the center, and the topic has come up in many meetings with staff and faculty across campus,” and while the center does “Not endorse candidates as a center. We follow the lead of students. If they want to talk about “politics” (loosely defined), [they] are open to those conversations.”

Some students from the LGBT community were also concerned about what may happen in the four years following the election, where Clinton got trumped by Trump.

The first interview was with a transsexual student wishing to be known as Ingrid Third.

Ingrid stated that she was “Nervous. I fear for our community. Trump has taken every possible position concerning LGBT issues, and I worry about what could actually do. I am very concerned about the likely damage that will come from Republicans controlling the House, Senate, and Presidency”

Although being nervous about what Trump may have in store for the LGBT community, “doubtful that Trump will have any direct effect on our LGBT community” Ingrid is as, “Even if he rolled back the Obama Administration’s interpretation of Title IX (education) and Title VII (employment) to protect the LGBT community, the University’s well thought out nondiscrimination policies (as well as Salt Lake City’s nondiscrimination ordinance and Utah’s okayish nondiscrimination law). Indirectly, Trump’s election might inspire opponents of LGBT rights and acceptance to be more vocal.”

Ingrid directed me to another member of the LGBT community on campus, Shae.

Shae considers herself a member of the LGBT community as she says she is “Attracted to all genders but do not use a label for my sexuality”

In contrast to the nervousness that plagued Ingrid, Shae was outright upset and cried herself to sleep that night, and referred to Trump as an “Racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, rapist, misogynist, ableist man.”

Shae also doubts Trump not only because of his views on the LGBT community, but also because, “his economic plans, foreign policy, and internal politics are very unlikely to have success. He knows very little about politics and I do not think that he will have the necessary knowledge or experience to make the next four years successful.”

Another element of contrast that Shae had to Ingrid was that of the effect that Trump may have upon the campus. Her reasoning was “Trump’s hateful rhetoric was normalized by his election. Especially in Utah culture, the LGBT community tends to be frowned upon or even hated. With the normalization of such negativity, pre-existing opinions will be able to come out, with the potential for a rise in discrimination or violence against the LGBT community on campus.”

Both Shae and Ingrid have interacted with the LGBT Center on campus, and while Shae has only interacted with the center a few times here and there, Ingrid is much more involved, going to the Fabulous Friday event that the center puts on weekly from 3:00-5:00 p.m.

The Fabulous Friday event is just one of many that the LGBT center puts on where those who are either a part of the LGBT community or are simply allies can come together and support each other.

This support can be quite vital now, as can be seen through Ingrid and Shae, some of the LGBT community are feeling quite lost with the recent events from the election and the shock-waves that the election has caused, and will most likely continue to cause after trump is sworn into office.

Story by: Kalyn Dewey

Seven children died in Utah last year due to abuse in the home. Every eight minutes, a call is made to the Division of Child and Family Services. Each call is a report of neglect or abuse in the state of Utah. The Division of Child and Family Services is one of the only organizations that works with many different abusive problems.

The Division of Child and Family Services has both a vision and a mission according to its website. Its vision is to keep children safe and strengthen families. Its mission is “to keep children safe from abuse and neglect and provide domestic violence services by working with communities and strengthening families.”

Abuse is an issue throughout Utah. It is more than just physical harming of a child; it also includes emotional and mental abuse. According to Healthy Place, they define emotional abuse as consisting of someone intimidating, isolating, verbal assault or anything that hurts a child’s dignity, self-worth or identity. Psychology Today defines mental abuse as doing something in which the person would be subject to obtaining depression, anxiety or any such mental issue as one puts blame on the victim.

Last year, the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) reported 9,993 children who had been abused. That equals to 27 children every single day. 27 children is equivalent to an entire elementary classroom that is abused every single day. In fact, 65 percent of the reported abuse were with children under the age of ten.

Tess Hortin, a former DCFS employee, started as a Child Protective Services Investigator. That means that she handled up-front assessments of child abuse and neglect that were reported by the community. She later became a Human Services Supervisor. After that, she supervised a team of Child Protection workers and In-Home Service Workers who worked longer term with families, which were usually under court order, to maintain the family unit. Hortin was also on the Utah County Sex Crimes Task Force and the Statewide Child Protection Services Steering Committee which created and reviewed policy and procedure.

When asked about Utah, Hortin exclaimed that Utah was just as bad and sometimes worse than other states. She stated that many new cases poured in daily. These cases related to meth, depression and internet addiction. As meth is a big issue in Utah, many of the cases were meth users. Internet addiction, meth abuse, and depression all led to severe neglect with children. On top of that, sexual abuse, domestic violence and physical abuse are major issues as well, but not as specific to Utah.

Hortin went further to describe what it was like working with children and families who were abused. “I was chased down the street and through houses.  I went to multiple middle of the night drug busts to remove children.  I was threatened and cursed at.” She continued on, “I’ve had things thrown at me.  It was an incredibly hard job where you were constantly told by the public that you were doing too much or not doing enough.  Not many people love DCFS workers.”

As DCFS is the only organization which deals with abuse in Utah, there are many people who dislike what they do. Being a DCFS worker is something that experiences the best and worst of times. These children lived in incredibly terrible environments too. Hortin talked about how heartbreaking it was to go into the houses and see the children. She went on to talk about more of her experiences as a DCFS worker. She’s walked right into a trailer where the husband was beating the wife and had to de-escalate things fast.  She’s seen a deceased 10-year-old.  She’s seen things that were extremely stressful and intense.

These children live in terrible situations, but not all are poor. Hortin wanted to make sure that people understood that abuse is not subject to the lower class and poor families. Abuse knows no boundaries. It could happen to anyone, whether they be rich or poor.

The DCFS offers multiple programs and services to help with these families. Not only do they intervene in abusive homes, but they provide parent education, budgeting help, crisis intervention, sex abuse treatment and mental health therapy.

In addition to these treatments, they offer in-home services to protect families. The DCFS puts the child into a relatives’ care or up for adoption only when absolutely necessary. They feel very strong about not disrupting children’s lives and those they have attachments to. In order to keep the child safe, there are three in-home services.

To begin, there is a voluntary service in which the parents choose to go to counseling. When approved, the parents and children join in going to counseling. If the situation is a little direr, they have court-ordered services which provide supervision from someone who works with the division. If the abuse and neglect are not manageable in the home, they offer intensive services that include teaching parenting skills, developing child safety plans, teaching conflict resolution and problem-solving skills and linking the family to broad-based community resources.

Hortin recalled her first day as a 21-year-old on the job. “There was standing sewage, a hole where a toilet should have been.  Cockroaches and mice scampered around.  The stench of urine and filth was strong,” she said. “Six children needed to be rounded up and put in cars.  Law enforcement met us at the home.  A young boy tried to hit me with a stretch of rubber hose to keep me away.  After we finished, I went home and showered and cried. Some days were like that.”

These people are all around us. They are our neighbors and friends. They are our coworkers and loved ones. Abuse isn’t lessened by the idea of ‘happy valley’ Utah. In fact, according to a KUTV report, Utah ranks eighth in child abuse and first in sex abuse rates of children. We need to step up and see the issue.

If you know of abuse or are involved in abuse, go get help by going to http://dcfs.utah.gov.