Teachers share excitement for new middle school opening in Eagle Mountain

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — We're just days away from Utah kids going back to school. For some students, it's not just a new school year; some are getting a whole new school.

One of them is Sage Canyon Middle School in Eagle Mountain, signaling a new direction for education in that growing part of the state.

Unpacking and preparing, health and yoga teacher Justice Reda said she was thrilled to teach at the new school. "My most excited thing I'm looking forward to is getting to know the students," Reda said.

Coming to Sage Canyon means those students are now in her hometown.

"I've lived in Eagle Mountain my entire life. Like, I could walk to the school," Reda said.

Other teachers share her enthusiasm.

"Here, I'm just excited. As I look around this room, alone, and I think about all the fun that I'm going to have, I'm a kid in a candy store," said Andrew Maddocks, drama and theater teacher.

Sage Canyon is only the second middle school in all of Eagle Mountain. With it popping up, and the Alpine School District soon splitting into three new districts, basing one in Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs, more local teachers are excited about the future school district here they can call their own.

"I had 15-20 teachers reach out to me alone, saying, 'I/we want to work in this west district, that's where I live,'" said Sage Canyon Middle School Principal Brian Jolley.

There's a lot to like with the new school — a big brand-new gym, a large theater and auditorium with all the bells and whistles, and one of a very few schools to have its own pickleball courts, among other upgrades. But perhaps more importantly, it's an opportunity for a new start.

"You're not just building the building from the ground up, but you're building, like, the culture from the ground up," Jolley said.

One that will help meet the area's growing needs.

The first day of class is next week, Aug. 13. That's when Sage Canyon will see 1,500 seventh, eighth and ninth graders roaming the halls for the first school year. The principal said the opening of this new school will help reduce overcrowding at Cedar Valley High School and Frontier Middle School.

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