Mr. Kim Gerke is one of our fabulous counselors here at Maple Mountain High. With an impressive 26 years of counseling in his pocket, he knows what it takes to help students be successful. A graduate of Homestead High in Indiana, 1974, he came to Brigham Young University in 1980 and gained his bachelor of science in Psychology and History. In 1987, Kim furthered his education achieving his master’s degree in Counseling. Previously employed at Spanish Fork High and Springville Jr. High, Mr. Gerke’s opinion is that he is at the best school of his career, our new Maple Mountain High.

On August 29, the Maple Mountain cross country team competed in the annual Grass Relays at American Fork High School. Grass Relays are two mile races on a mile long grass course peppered with rows of hay bales that the runners must jump over. Thirty-six variety teams from all regions of the state traveled to participate in this annual relay race. Maple Mountain Boy’s Varsity placed thirteenth out of thirty-one teams, with Spencer Hanson having the third fastest time of all the boy varsity runners.

The first ever Maple Mountain Girls’ Soccer team has started off with a big bang! The Lady Golden Eagles region play began on Tuesday, September 1, with a winning game, following an already great pre-season with only one loss. Currently, the Lady Golden Eagles have an 8-1 record; remarkable for their first year. “The girls have played extraordinarily well as a team,” says Coach Carolyn Swenson.

Maple Mountain High isn’t the only thing in its first year. Counseling intern, Mrs. Rachelle Miner, is excited to be a first year counselor. A graduate of Springville High, she went on to receive her Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Science from Utah Valley University, then continued to achieve her Master’s in Psychology. When not counseling students, Mrs. Miner spends time with her husband, Mike, and her seven children (four girls and three boys). In addition to family, she enjoys reading, tennis, traveling, and spending time on the golf course.

On September 3, MMHS girls soccer battled Uintah Utes on their home turf in Vernal. The Eagles won 3-2 in a close game. Jayci Peay, sophomore, scored two of the three goals from free kicks; both shots were perfectly placed in the side nets, just out of reach of the keeper. The Eagles were ahead 2-0 at the end of the first half, but the Utes came out hard and scored two goals. The game winning goal was scored by Baylee Nielson, a sophomore, by slipping the ball past the goalie in a scramble. The game was hard fought.

When interviewing Joy Maughan, Maple Mountain’s front office secretary, it was hard to get a full comment in without being interrupted with a matter of school business. When you call the school, you will most likely be greeted by Joy. Married for 30 years, Joy has five children, four of who are married and one currently attending college. Mrs. Maughan enjoys the thrill of four wheeling and wave running. Each year she travels to the coast to enjoy the beach; vacationing with her family is definitely what she loves to do, outside of school of course.

If it’s Health, Psychology, or AP Psychology, Mr. Darrell Wyatt covers them all! Darrell Wyatt is a fabulous social science teacher and committed cross country coach at our new Maple Mountain High School. Darrell has a beautiful wife, Camille, and a son, K.J. The most unusual job he ever had was working at Pretzeltime for four hours. He quit due to sheer boredom—Maple Mountain is anything but that! When asked what the hardest part of being a cross country coach is, he said, “It’s keeping the students motivated to attain their goals.” Mr.

Amy Bond is one of our fabulous counselors here at Maple Mountain High school. She is married and has two children who she loves very much. Mrs. Bond has been a counselor for a total of fourteen years and has lived in Mapleton her entire life. She graduated from Springville High School and went on to Utah Valley University and Utah State University. At UVU she was point guard on the basketball team and shortstop on the softball team. Wow! In college she admired her counselors which inspired her to pursue a career in counseling. Mrs.

Matt Pugh, Brennen Hyatt, and Chris Clark, varsity players at Maple Mountain high school commented on their work ethic, teamwork, and learning experiences. They also stated their opinion about what they like about being on the new football team here at our new school. Matt Pugh said, “We all get along very well coming from so many different schools. The team is learning to work together. It is exciting for us to set new traditions.” Matt plays center and has been playing football since 7th grade.