As the final bell rang at Deer Creek High School Wednesday, crowds of students gathered to discuss their first day at the county’s new school.
The county’s second high school opened in Heber at the end of July. Wednesday marked the first day of class.
Senior class president Luke Giles said going back to school feels different this year.
“Every year, the first day of school is just super exciting because you're seeing all these faces that you haven't seen for like a while,” he said. “But this year even more because we're all doing something new together.”
The theme for Deer Creek’s inaugural class is “be the first.” Giles said that can mean inviting a new student to sit at lunch or to clean up after class.
At freshman orientation Monday, he put the motto into action. Giles said he helped a student whose lunch account hadn’t been set up yet by inviting her to get snacks in the student government room.
“She was like, ‘Oh really? I can have some of these?’ And I was like, ‘For sure. Any time you need food, just come grab some snacks from the closet,’” he said. “Then we talked the whole lunch and I helped her figure out her classes.”
The Wasatch County School District built Deer Creek to expand opportunities for Heber Valley youth. A second high school means double the space in sports, arts and other extracurricular programs.
Principal Justin Kelly said the change is also about connection. A smaller school means educators get to know students individually, and students can get to know each other better as well.
Through the Wasatch High split, Deer Creek senior class vice president Kohle Rauzi said students are building and maintaining connections.
He can still have lunch with his best friend and former classmate across the valley.
“Our bell schedules are exactly the same, so we still have all that time at lunch that we can go hang out with each other,” Rauzi said. “He was the only kid from Wasatch there, but he still knew everybody, so we still have these friendships.”
Deer Creek and Wasatch students can also see each other in Wasatch Center for Advanced Professional Studies classes at Utah Valley University’s Wasatch Campus.
Teachers Kasie Payne and Mackay Jacobsen said the first day of school felt much like years past only with a less-crowded parking lot.
Jacobsen said the bonds between schools will endure as evident at a recent football game.
“Half the Wasatch school was there supporting Deer Creek, which I thought was actually kind of cool,” he said. “The coaches and teachers are really making an effort to, like, involve the whole valley still.”
While maintaining ties to Wasatch High, Giles and Rauzi said Deer Creek students want to create new traditions and a culture of their own.
