Ninth Grade

I loved ninth grade. It was one of my favorite years of school. I'd finally figured out the way Jr High worked and so I felt really confident about myself that year. I remembered how unsure I was of myself as a seventh grader so I made friends with a lot of seventh graders. I also started to get to know a lot of boys. A lot of the people I met are still my friends through facebook. Here are some of the things I did in 9^th grade.

English

I had the same English teacher all three years of Jr High. Ms. M was one of my all time favorite teachers. She taught us English, but we were able to do projects along with writing essays and reading short stories and books. When we read Romeo and Juliet she assigned us a “Shakespeare Project” we had to do something creative that had to do with Shakespeare. Some students acted out a scene from the play. Other people made the globe theater out of popsicle sticks. I made clothes for barbie dolls. I called it Juliet's Bachelorette Party. I worked for several weeks on this project. I liked working on it because I was able to relax while I figured out how to do the clothes.

This is Juliet. I sewed all the beads on by hand around her bodice.

These are the other Barbie dolls. I made all these clothes.

Another project my teacher assigned was called an I-search. It was basically a research paper, but it was more about the research process than actually proving a point. It could be on any subject. In 7^th grade I had done one on the race to the moon between the United State and the Soviet Union. In 9^th Grade I did one on WWII. It was basically a rehash of one of my favorite books, “A Short History of WWII.” It was 40 pages long even though the requirement was probably only 5 or 10 pages. I'd started working on it during the summer. In January I did an I-search about astronomy. At the end of the year I did an oral presentation about radios. I even brought in my Dad's Oscilloscope. As I worked on each of these projects I learned that I enjoyed writing. I found that words flowed easily to me and that my biggest problem was probably that I wrote too much. (I still haven't got over that as evidenced by my addiction to this blog)

Orchestra

9^th grade was probably the high point of my experience as a string bass player. I enjoyed everything about orchestra that year. My sister Lindsey played the viola so she was in the class with me. This was the only class we ever took together. In addition to Lindsey there were a bunch of other 7^th graders. I remembered how much I had looked up to the ninth grade girls when I was in 7^th grade. I wanted these 7^th graders to have a positive time in school so I made friends with most of them. I was also friends with the 8^th and 9^th graders too.

One of the 7^th grade girls, Autumn, became one of my very best friends that year. She was a cello player so she sat in front of me. We had the same sense of humor and enjoyed teasing her section leader. Other people I was friends with were Michelle G an 8^th grade cello. Becca H a 7^th grade viola. Stephanie G a 7^th grade violin. Christ L a 8^th grade violin. Chris and Autumn “went out” for like 3 months before I found out they were a couple. They just assumed I knew they were together and when I finally found out we all had a laugh at my obliviousness. I really enjoyed my friend ships with these people and we are still friends via facebook.

Another kid I made friends with was Brad V. Brad was a scrawny little 7^th grade viola player that transferred into the class at second semester. I first met him during first semester and I think it involved him spitting ice at me. His older brother, Joel, was my age and he always kind of bugged me (more about that later) Both boys were my paper boys at various times during Jr high. Brad was fun to talk to and hang out with at lunch, but I didn't think our friendship would last longer than a few months. It's been over 10 years and I am still friends with him. My ward was moved into his stake so we went to youth conference and we were in the same group (I actually requested that he be in my group.) He married one of my friends from my ward so we still see each other when 5^th ward people get together. He's grown up into a tall handsome man and is a great husband and father. I'm glad I've been able to watch him grow up.

We became fairly united as a class. Orchestra was 5^th period which was the class right after lunch. A lot of us started eating lunch together on the porch of the courtyard. We ate out there even on the most snowy days. A few minutes before the bell rang I would say, “let's move.” And we would all climb over the railing on the porch and head over to the door. As soon as the bell rang we would go inside and start getting our instruments out.

Here are the violas, cellos, and basses.

And the violins.

In class our teacher would work with us on our group pieces. Some days we would divide up into sectionals. I had been the only bass for the past two years so I'd always hung out with the cellos – our parts were basically the same any way. This year I had a little prodigy – Austin. I taught him how to play the bass. He was pretty quiet so we'd usually join the cellos and have fun with them.

My friend Mike J was the section leader of the cellos. He was a very talented player. I'd had at least 4 classes with him every year since 7^th grade so I knew him well. I was quiet and Mike wasn't so when ever I had an idea for the class I would suggest it to Mike and he would suggest it to the teacher. We liked to argue and joke around. I think we both enjoyed exasperating one another. Here is an example of a typical Valerie/Mike conversation. Mike: Hey what happened to the squished up orange I put in the cello room?” Valerie: “It was grossing me out so I threw it away.” Mike: “What? I wanted to see what would happen if I left it there.” Valerie: “Well it started to stink. I didn't want the fumes to make the varnish on my bass start peeling.” Mike: “Oh that won't happen, I just want to see what happens to the orange.” Valerie: “If it's anything like the squished up apple you had in there last week it will make the room smell like beer.” Our contest over whether or not Mike could keep an orange in the cello room finally ended with me agreeing to not throw anything away for a month. He put 5 squished up oranges in the room. I'm sure our teacher was always trying to figure out why she smelled spoiled orange juice. At the end of the month I didn't throw the oranges away we left them in there until the last week of school. They were all pretty moldy and smelly by the time we did throw them away. Autumn told me that they found one at the end of the summer and it was all dried up.

Around Christmas time we went on tour to 4 elementary schools. This was something we had done the year before to try to recruit new members. The orchestra, concert band, and jazz band all preformed Christmas songs for the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th graders. We took two buses and were gone most of the school day. For lunch we went to McDonald’s and Wendy’s which were right next to each other. I have a very special mental image of watching all the 9^th grade boys walk back to the buses while they were singing.

In addition to the big orchestra which was made up of all levels of ability we had the chamber orchestra. This smaller group was made up of the more talented players. Mike and I were always the cello and bass players. Bart H was the concert master so he was usually the first violin. Sarah W was a very talented 8^th grader and she was usually the 2^nd violin. Tim V was our most talented viola, but his busy schedule meant he was not signed up in Orchestra until second semester. During first semester he would come join in with the chamber orchestra during his lunch break. Other students were added as needed. Rehearsals with the chamber orchestra were held in the violin room- a tiny room that hardly held us all. There were usually lots of arguments and laughter. I would sit on the amp for the jazz bands guitars and Mike would get mad at me. Occasionally we actually got around to playing our instruments.

Tim's dedication and talent saved us when it came time for festival. We had been practicing the song “Ancient Ritual” for months. Our teacher wasn't sure we were good enough to take it to festival. Mike and Tim talked to her and told her was our best piece and we had to take it. ( I would have told her too, but I was out of town due to my Grandpa's funeral.) Then a few days before festival our concert master, Bart, had some sort of emergency in his family and he had to go out of town. Tim had been trying out the violin and was was able to switch from viola and take over the spot as concert master. Thanks to him we earned a 1+ and a 1- at festival. (By the way, Tim and I are now step-cousin- in-laws because his step brother is Brandon's cousin.)

The spring concert was held in April. Two days before the concert Mike told me my name was spelled wrong on the program. I didn't believe him until I checked it out. I found out that my name was listed as part of a group number he and Tim had put together. My last name was spelled Lovelace. That wasn't the biggest problem. The big problem for me was that no one had told me I was in the group number! Mike assumed Tim told me and Tim thought Mike told me. So I learned the part in two days and was part of the group – good thing bass parts are usually incredibly easy.

Orchestra meant so much to me in 9^th grade, but the full impact of that year didn't hit me until I'd been in college for a semester. I came back home for my best friend, Ashley's, wedding. She had two viola's play at her wedding. One was Brad. He and the other viola played “Cannon in D” which was one of the songs we played in Orchestra. As I listened to him play I thought back on all the good memories of orchestra. Festival, oranges, that tiny violin room, and all my friends. I started to cry because it had all been so wonderful.

Gym

I took Dance 1 in 8^th grade and I planned on taking Dance 2 in ninth grade. But when it came time to register I ran into a problem Dance 2 was only taught during the same periods as French 3 and Orchestra. I ended up in regular gym. Most every other girl my age took dance as their PE credit. My class was made up of about 35 boys and 6 girls. It was really hard to be a clumsy non-athletic girl in that group. I told my self to just deal with it and get through the semester.

It wasn't my favorite class but I have some good memories from it. I learned I could do 605 jump ropes in 5 minutes (that's two a second) Being one of only a few girls had its perks. The teacher let us walk the track rather than play soccer with the boys. When we played volley ball the girls were each captains of their own team. I picked Mike, Alan and all my other friends from the music and french classes. During basketball the girls weren't allowed to play with the boys so we just had our own team.

There was a 7^th grade PE class geld at the same time. A lot of my friends from Orchestra were also in that class. We'd talk in the locker room and anytime our classes interacted.

Office Aid

On registration day there was an error on my schedule so my mom and I went into the counseling center to get it taken care of. While we were there the secretary in charge of the counseling center, Ms E, asked if there was anyway I could be an office aid. She knew me because I saw her at least one a month when I got a street pass to go to the orthodontist. We were able to work out my schedule so that I could be an office aid during 4^th period for second semester.

As an office aid I was in charge of collecting the rolls from the 100 and 200 halls. I also helped deliver notes to teachers. There were two other office aids during 4^th period, Alan R and a kid named Scott. Scott was very quiet so I basically have no memory of him other than me and my friends all thought he was very cute. I was too shy to talk to him though. Instead I spent all my time goofing off with Alan. Alan had been in several of my classes over the years. We had french together and probably English too. We knew each other but this was the first time we got to talk and really get to know each other. Alan was a character. His parents had somehow put him into Kindergarten a year early. So while most of my classmates were turning 15 in 9^th grade Alan was only turning 14. Being a year younger meant he was always a little bit sillier than the rest of us. Combine that with his natural exuberance for life and above average IQ and you have one crazy guy. I had so much fun hanging out with him. Most of the things with Alan were “you had to be there” moments. Even if I could write them all down they would probably seem pretty flat on paper. Here are some things. 4^th period had a 20 minute reading time attached to the front of it where we were supposed to read. However we usually ended up joking around. Sometimes we would look at an atlas that was in the counseling center. Once he was sitting in one of the secretaries desks pretending to be her. He turned around in the chair and scraped his knee on the filing cabinet. For some reason this was so funny that we laughed about it for years afterward. We also would race to see who could get their halls done first.

Here are some other Alan stories. Alan was a trombone player and was in the Jazz band. The jazz band sat at the front of the auditorium and played at the beginning of assemblies. Then they would sit in their chairs and watch the assembly. At the end they would play while everyone left. Alan made a sign that said “Don't Choke” on it and would sit right next to the stage and hold it on his lap. There were several times I saw this sign while I was on stage playing with the orchestra. One time I was down in the Jazz band area with a small group of orchestra students. Alan had a screw driver and was trying to open the grate that was under the stage. I tell you this kid was nuts – but fun.

French

I took french for 3 years. One reason I took French each year was because the teacher always gave out Eiffel tower shaped pencil sharpeners as Christmas presents for her 3^rd year students. I really wanted that pencil sharpener. I also did it so I could go with the other 3^rd year student to a French Restaurant and eat snails.

Of course the class was also really fun. There were a lot of really witty students in the class – mostly boys like Alan R, Mike J, Robert S, Joel V, and Edward A. The teacher Madam B taught us french, but she also answered our questions about just about any subject. Subjects ranged from how to exchange dollars for foreign currency, jury duty, fire drills, assemblies, school nurses, noses, pen pals, and so on. French things that I learned were my ABCs, how to count, the days of the week, and other basic language trivia. We spent a great deal of time learning how to conjugate. It seems we were always taking tests on how to conjugate certain words.

I thought I would take French in high school, but halfway though ninth grade we started learning about something called Past Imperfect tense or something like that. It was just a little bit too complicated for me and I decided I didn't want my brain to explode. So once I ate those snails I was done with French.

Here we are on the way to the restaurant.

I'm glad I took the class. Three years of French helped me earn an Area of Distinction in College Prep. That combined with my Area of Distinction in Social Sciences meant I graduated from high school with a Diploma of Merit. Also Brandon went on a French speaking mission. He has a habit of throwing in random french words into his sentences. I'm glad I can somewhat follow him. One day we plan on visiting his mission so I am casually relearning French.

Field Trip to the University of Utah

In January the school sent all the students with high test scores to the University of Utah for some sort of college prep day. We went to a lecture on things to do to get scholarships. We also went to the museams on campus. I remember walking into the muesuem of natural history and seeing my 7th grade friends laying on the benches in one of the display rooms. They had been there for about 2 hours and were really bored. Once I showed up we pretended like we were being held prisoner. We even tried to see if the windows opened to we could escape. There were about a hundred dead flies on the window sill. We didn't notice them until after we had leaned our elbows on the window sill - yuk.

Later we were able to go to lunch and we had fun trying to figure out how to sneak the food back onto the bus. On the bus ride home I was on the 9th grade bus and we sang silly songs the whole way home. It was one of the funniest field trips I ever went on.

Birthday

My parents said that I could have a sleep over party for my 15^th birthday. I was excited for the party but I was a little worried about how all my friends would get along. I had 4 different sets of friends in 9^th grade. I had my guy friends (who would not be invited); my best friends since elementary school, Ashley and Becky; my 9^th grade friends; and my seventh and eighth grade friends from gym and orchestra.

It actually turned our really well. Ashley and Becky came and so did my orchestra/gym friends: Autumn, Becca, Stephanie, Michelle, and Chelsea (she ended up my sister Lindsey's best friend all through school.) We had pizza, slept in the living room, and ate cereal for breakfast.

Mid Summers Night Dream

My English teacher organized an after school field trip for her 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th grade students to go see a production of “A Midsummer’s Night's Dream.” It was directed by my history teacher from the year before (yeah the one I made cry) My friend Ashley and I signed up to go. We went out to eat at Arctic Circle and then we went to the school and got on the buses. Our tickets were near each other, but not next to each other. We were able to switch seats with some 7^th grade boys and sit by each other. While we waited for the play to start we talked to the 7^th graders. I don't remember all the specifics but somehow we were stealing milk duds from the boys. It was really funny. Years later I went on a date with my friend Seth. Seth asked me if I remembered going to that play and stealing his milk duds. I didn't know he was that same guy!

Grandpa's funeral

My mom's dad died during the first part of May. My parents flew to Indiana for the funeral. First they took me and my siblings to Idaho to stay with my dad's mom. Grandma Mary Ann was in the process of building a house with her husband Carwin. Carwin had a son, Clint, who was a year younger than me. They were living in a rental house in Arimo, Idaho. It was a smaller home but somehow we all fit.

During the 4 or 5 days that we stayed there we had a lot of fun. We went out to the house that was under construction and played around while Grandma and Carwin worked. Clint took us on a hike up to a hill that had ancient volcanic ash on it. Back at the rental house we all played on big rolls of hay that were in the neighbors' yard. One of Clint's friends came over and he asked who we were. Clint said we were his nieces and the kid said, “Nieces? They are older than you!” Well one of us was.

One night we wanted to watch a movie. Grandma suggested we watch Anne of Green Gables. No one was very interested in that idea. We looked at the 4 VHS tapes and thought that it would be a boring movie. Grandma suggested we just watch one tape and go from there. By the end of that tape she didn't have to try to talk us into watching the rest of the Green Gables or Anne of Avonlea tapes – we were hooked. And we are all still hooked.

Grandma pointed our an interesting occurrence among us kids. She said we would all be talking non stop until we got into the car and the engine would turn on. Then we would instantly quiet down. We'd be silent until we got to where ever we were going and the car was turned off. Then we would all start talking again. After thinking about it for a minute we figured out what was going on. Our family car was a huge old van that was very loud. Us kids had developed the habit of going into our own little worlds instead of trying to talk over the noise.

Lagoon Day

At the end of 9^th grade all the 9^th graders got to go to Lagoon for the day. We all met at the school and then got onto one of three buses. The buses were divided up alphabetically which meant I was with all the Lopezs and Martinezes but not with any of my friends. Once we got to the park I found out I got in for free because I was a promotion speaker. That was nice, but I still couldn't find any of my friends. I eventually caught up with them, but I remember being by myself for a little bit.

I hadn't been to Lagoon since 6^th grade so it was fun to go on all the rides. At one point I switched from hanging out with my friend Ashley's group to a group with some other friends. I went on a couple rides with that group, but then they wanted to go on the Ferris wheel. I hate the Ferris wheel – it is the only ride that truly scares me. I suggested we go on the Rocket, but they had already been on that ride. I really wanted to go on the Rocket because I hadn't been on it yet. I asked, “will any one go on the Rocket with me?” The only person that volunteered was Joel V (Brad's older brother). Now for some reason I'd never really liked Joel. We'd had french together all three years, and he had always seemed a little weird. He was also my paper boy and that somehow complicated things. So when Joel volunteered I was stuck in the middle of a dilemma. Should I go on a ride I hated or hang out with somebody who I didn't like. In the end Joel and the Rocket won out over the Ferris wheel.

The Rocket was the new ride so it had a fairly long line compared to the other rides. Joel and I stood in line for probably 40 minutes. Something strange happened during those 40 minutes. Joel didn't bug me. In fact I enjoyed talking to him. I realized that for the past 3 years I'd had a completely wrong impression of him. Those 40 minutes changed everything. During high school we took math together and he became one of my very best friends. We went on a few dates after I turned 16. He asked me to sign up for social dance with him in 11^th grade, and we were partners for the first concert. After high school we lost track of each other for a while, but after his mission we hung out a few times. He got married a year or two after I did and he had twins about a year and a half before I did. I'd hate to think how much different my life would have been if I had decided to snub Joel and go on the Ferris wheel.

Promotion

Sometime during 7^th or 8^th grade I decided I wanted to be a speaker at my 9^th grade promotion. Promotion was a tradition at my Jr High. It was like a graduation except everyone dressed up instead of wearing caps and gowns. Also you didn't have to be a Class officer or the valedictorian to speak. So when the auditions for promotion speakers and performers was announced I started writing my speech. The theme was “From this Moment On.” I found a quote from Benjamin Franklin and based my speech around it. I was confident as I wrote my speech because I had spoken at my elementary school's veterans day assembly and I'd given many talks in sacrament meeting. I knew that my speech was good.

The auditions were held after school in the science room in the 400 hall. It was the same day as my french class' trip to eat snails so I was dressed up. The promotion committee teachers had everyone draw a number to see who would go first. It just so happened to be me. I blew the competition out of the water with my speech.

I had to wait a couple days to find out if I was a speaker. I found out the results a little bit earlier than every one else. My mom's dad died and I had to go out of town a day before the results were announced. My geography teacher took me out in the hall and told me that I was one of the four speakers. The other speakers were my friend Steve S, Harmony S from my ward, and Camille K. There was also a dance to the song “From the Moment On” by Candice P and Sarah B sang the song with lyrics modified to apply to promotion instead of a wedding.

During the weeks leading up to promotion my French teacher worked with each of the speakers to help us with our delivery. She especially worked with getting me to slow down as I spoke. I can still remember her saying something like, “This will be new for everyone, go slow so they can learn.” With her help I was able to slow down and concentrate on what I was saying. I also worked on memorizing the whole thing.

In addition to working on my talk I was also working on my dress. It was my first formal dress, and I sewed it myself. I also made a top for my friend Becky. I felt so crafty until I saw what my friend Ashley did for her dress. She took an ugly keyhole neckline bridesmaid dress, chopped off the ugly neck and sleeves, turned the dress around and sewed straps on it. It was amazing.

The night of promotion I gave my speech perfectly. At one point I got a little lost but I had cards to help me out. The other speakers did well also. Most students only got two promotion tickets. Since I was a speaker I got 5. Two for my parents, one for Lindsey, one for Emily (who spoke at her promotion), and one for my 6^th grade teacher Mr B. There were light refreshments served after the ceremonies in the courtyard. Lots of people commented on my speech.

My parents took pictures and then 9^th grade was over. I can say that I was pretty happy to be done with promotion because I was getting really sick of hearing “From this Moment On” I'd heard it enough during the 2 or 3 rehearsals we'd had.

I never had another year like 9^th grade. 12 grade comes close and is actually my favorite year of school, but there is something about 9^th grade that makes every memory special. Maybe it was the relative innocence of being 14 years old. Maybe it was because I made an effort to befriend people that I didn't have to be friends with. I don't know. But I do know that I feel like my life began in 9^th grade.