Connect Canyons

Send us Fan Mail October is officially recognized nationwide as Bullying Prevention Month, a time when schools, families, and communities unite under a common goal, ensuring that every single student feels safe, valued, and connected when they walk through the doors of every school in Canyons School District.  "Middle school is difficult,” Eric Garder, principal of Albion Middle School said i...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to prepare a student for the future? Strong academic skills matter. But success in college, the workplace, and life also depends on qualities that aren't always captured by a test score: the ability to solve problems, work with others, generate ideas, persist through challenges, and contribute to a community.  Those skills are at the heart of Canyons School...

Send us Fan Mail As we celebrate World Literacy Day, two Canyons experts explain on the latest episode of Connect Canyons how our native languages provide the building blocks students need to grow and learn in other languages.

Send us Fan Mail With the start of each new school year comes a fresh set of nerves. Some students and even teachers and administrators are getting into new routines, students are finding their new classrooms, and everyone is meeting new faces.  Students aren’t the only one who get the jitters during the first week of school, Dr. Angela Wilkinson has dedicated nearly 20 years to educating young mi...

Send us Fan Mail The Class of 2026 have turned their tassels, leaving behind their childhood years and setting their sights on the horizon. Some will head to college, others look to build their own business, and still more will begin to pursue their dreams of the future.  In this episode of Connect Canyons, we sit down with someone who walked a similar path and now has his sights set on the horizo...

Send us Fan Mail A Brighton High graduate is shining in the national spotlight as a star of the fourth season of Netflix’s Emmy Award-winning unscripted series “Love on the Spectrum.”   Bengal Emma Miller, who earned her diploma in 2020, is one of the young adults on the autism spectrum who are filmed while navigating dating, relationships, and, well, love.  “My mom is a big Netflix show watcher,...

Send us Fan Mail There’s a quiet revolution happening at Alta High School—and it starts with 20 minutes of silence. Not the awkward kind. The good kind. The kind where teenagers are flipping pages, lost in books they chose themselves. If that sounds improbable, even a little magical, you’re not alone. “Sometimes I’ll look up and think… wait, they’re all reading?” said English teacher Peggy DeVeny....

Send us Fan Mail Experts have found students who participate in theater exhibit higher test scores, improved analytical thinking and communication skills, and are more likely to graduate. Look no further than theater students right here in Canyons District to see the proof. The theater departments at all five of Canyons’ traditional high schools are competing in the state championships this week....

Send us Fan Mail We sit down with Canyons School District Nursing Specialist Jen Gerrard to translate the medical jargon around communicable diseases and explain why measles, pertussis (whooping cough), and varicella (chickenpox) trigger a very different level of school response than the common cold. We talk through how these viruses spread, what prevention actually helps, and why staying home wit...

Send us Fan Mail We sit down with new Superintendent Dr. McKay Robinson and trace the personal moments that pulled him into education and still guide how he leads. We talk about relationships, strong teaching, valued support staff, and why building on a solid foundation beats disruption.  • Dr. Robinson’s journey from student to superintendent  • A third-grade teacher’s impact and why connection m...

Send us Fan Mail At Union Middle School, the books are moving. A lot.  So far this school year, Union students have checked out 6,601 books — more than any other secondary school in Canyons District. To put that in perspective, that works out to about 1,200 titles a month, or 7.2 per student.  In an age of constant scrolling, short attention spans, and endless digital distractions, those numbers s...

Send us Fan Mail In an era where “logging on” is as routine as brushing your teeth, it is important to prioritize the mental health and digital safety of students. New data from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reveals a striking reality: 80% of Utah students aged 12 to 18 spend at least two hours every day immersed in social media, gaming, or texting. While this connectivit...

Send us Fan Mail As Seattle and New England prepare to face off for Super Bowl LX, Canyons District’s resident gridiron experts sound off on The Big Game. In Connect Canyons' third-annual Super Bowl predictions episode, Canyons Superintendent Dr. Rick Robins is joined by Corner Canyon's Casey Sutera, Jordan High's Marc Albertson and Peruvian Park Elementary teacher and former Univer...

Send us Fan Mail Believe it or not, we're nearly halfway through the 2025-26 school year. Students are transitioning from playing games with their families over winter break to turning their alarms back on and getting back in the habit of classes and homework.   At the beginning of the year, we discussed how to get in that back to school groove. Now, on the latest episode of Connect Canyons,...

Send us Fan Mail Inside the Canyons Innovation Center, a solution to America’s broken school-to-work pipeline Walk into a traditional classroom almost anywhere in America and you will see a familiar scene: desks in rows and students sitting face-forward, learning largely the way their grandparents did. Outside those classroom walls, however, the world those students are preparing to enter has fund...

Send us Fan Mail Long before Jordan High Choir Director Jaron Putnam ever stood in front of a choir, music was already shaping who he would become.  “One of my first memories of being a human being was singing "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" with my family,” Putnam says. “My dad sang in a barbershop quartet growing up and so my siblings were harmonizing, and I just was surrounded by harmony from a v...

Send us Fan Mail Quarterback-to-Quarterback: CCHS grad and NY Giants QB Jaxson Dart speaks to Superintendent Robins about his time as a Charger, the lessons he’s learned through playing football, and what it’s like to hit the NFL field against the world’s very best.  The former Corner Canyon High gunslinger now in his rookie year as a New York Giant says the Chargers’ selection to vie for a nation...

Send us Fan Mail For most people, if you need a pencil or a binder, it's a quick trip to the store or an even faster click of a button. But what if you need hundreds of pencils or electronic devices for a classroom? That's where Canyon School District's Purchasing Department comes into play.  “Our department handles anything a school could need,” says Canyons Purchasing Director Nan...

Send us Fan Mail One of the storylines swirling Friday’s 6A semifinal battle between perennial powerhouse Corner Canyon and the on-the-rise Mountain Ridge is a good-natured question of allegiances: Which team will Canyons Superintendent Dr. Rick Robins be cheering for during the 11 a.m. battle at the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium.  Will Dr. Robins, a Hall of Fame quarterback for Souther...

Send us Fan Mail According to a recent Forbes article – Research has found students who participate in theater programs exhibit higher scores on standardized critical thinking tests than those who do not – Not to mention it’s just fun to step into the shoes of different characters and worlds. As all of Canyons School District’s five traditional high schools prepare for their fall musicals, on the...

Send us Fan Mail To say we live in a digital age has become a bit of a cliché – but it’s true. From how we schedule appointments or make a reservation – to how our vehicles operate – to devices on our wrists and in our pockets – Technology has become a major part of our day-to-day lives.  The same can be said for children – According to a 2025 study by the Pew Research Center – Nine-in-10 parents...

Send us Fan Mail Here in the Beehive state, we are no strangers to volunteering. Utah consistently tops the nation when it comes to donating time to help others. In the Canyon School District, our community goes above and beyond to volunteer in our schools in a variety of ways.  In this latest episode of Connect Canyons, we hear from two members of the Canyons community who have dedicated countles...

Send us Fan Mail Have you noticed your child has a penchant for asking deep questions or noticing patterns and connecting ideas their peers don’t see? Perhaps your child is a fast-finisher who gets frustrated at having to wait for next steps.  All of these signs could point to your child being a candidate for Canyons’ gifted and talented magnet program, SALTA.  “Some of us, when we learn to play a...

Send us Fan Mail It was a job at the Canyons School District that first brought Dr. Molly Hart to Utah from Georgia’s education system. Good thing. After a month-long search, the Utah State Board of Education recently named Hart, former principal of Mount Jordan and Albion middle schools, the state’s new state superintendent of public instruction. She’s been on the job since July 1.   I would not...

Send us Fan Mail Canyons students are back in the classroom, and those first few weeks of school can be a little jarring. Whether it's remembering to set that alarm clock or getting acquainted with a new class schedule, it can take a while to get back into the learning groove. So, we’re devoting the first Connect Canyons episode for the 2025-2026 school year to helping students and parents al...