Mr. Taylor, the New Principal

By Shaylee Gavin, Allen Hudson and Adam Weaver

Mineral County School District hired a new principal this summer. The new principal’s name is Ricky Alan Taylor or Mr. Taylor. Taylor has been a principal for 16 years. His previous job was being a principal at Virginia City but his very first job was a dishwasher at the Out Law Inn Restaurant, making $3.68 per hour. It’s amazing what you can become when you put your mind to it.

Taylor got a scholarship to the University of Montana Western by playing football at his high school. He also played many other sports during high school. Taylor said, “I played anything I could.” He finished his bachelor’s degree at Carroll College and later got his master’s degree at the University of Phoenix.

Taylor has a family of teachers and principals. All of his children are educators except his youngest daughter, who is a senior in high school. His wife is also a principal; she works at Silver Springs Middle School. That is a lot of people working at schools in one family.

We welcome Mr. Taylor to the community and to the Hawthorne Junior High and Mineral County High School.


Mineral County School District Junior High Gym Renovation

By Trinity Devall and Chrysta Cauley

Mineral County [School District] maintenance and janitorial staff were recognized this week at a junior high school assembly for their hard work on the junior high gymnasium. The gym renovation was completed so the students have a nice place to play and have their celebrations. The gym is used for community events, sports, school dances and P. E.

During the summer the entire gym was painted and the floors refinished to a bright shine. The wood panels were removed from the upper northern section of the gym, revealing windows and a ton of natural sunlight. The students were very thankful for the work done on the facility.

Tom Gallegos, maintenance supervisor reminded the students that their help in keeping the place tidy will allow it be nice for years to come.


Mrs. Grant

By Sarah Klein

Christy Grant is an English teacher at Mineral County High School/Hawthorne Junior High School who wants to work to make her students’ literacy skills increase and to make them understand that English is more than reading and writing. She wants her students to know that reading is about seeing how the words come together to make something beautiful.

“I’m a learner,” she said, adding: “As the students learn, I learn with them because everything is a learning experience.” Grant always believed that learning was her future, yet she never pursued it until her second son was in high school. She has worked hard for her career attending Great Basin College and was part of the first graduating class for the new teacher preparation program at GBC. She then worked to get her advanced degree from the University of Phoenix.

Grant enjoys being able to assist children in their academic growth and has taught every grade except Kindergarten. She believes that every grade and every student offers challenges and rewards…she loves that process.

Foreign Exchange Student Julia Settele

Written by Matty Broadhead, Ngahina Musselman and Johnny Dragon

At the beginning of the school year, we [Mineral County High School] obtained a foreign exchange student named is Julia Settele. Settele is a newcomer to Mineral County High School [MCHS]. Julia originally came from Ulm, Germany. She came to America to improve her English and explore a new place.

Attending MCHS was a different transition from the school schedule, to the school sports. There are no sports in German schools, they have a block schedule, more comprehensive subjects and they have school clubs that they can have instead of sports. German students don’t have the pledge or school announcements and when Julia goes back to Ulm, Germany, she will have to redo her senior year.

When she came here, she didn’t know where she would end up. The family signs up to be the host family for the program. According to Julia, we [Germany] have very skimpy fashion styles, we [Germany] don’t recycle as they do there, we [Germany] use a lot of straws and we [Germany] don’t have recycling bins. In Germany they have only three days of Christmas, they don’t have parades and they always get stuff before we do.

Julia keeps in contact with her friends and family and she will get a scholarship for coming here. She has an awesome host family in Hawthorne; it’s similar to foster family, more like a temporary living quarters. Julia said that once she goes back at the end of the school, she is going to miss the weather, the school spirit, Homecoming and Prom and having game nights.