HERRIMAN, Utah — If you look around Mountain Ridge High School, you'll see a whole lot of red, gray, and white — even more so if you were there Wednesday morning when Mountain Ridge was on air during Good Day Utah as FOX 13 News' Cool School of the Week.
This year, Mountain Ridge's theme is "Together as One."
"We chose this because we really wanted to unify our school," said Student Body President MJ Darton.
That unity showed as students from cheer, drill, band, and student government all filled the commons area with music and laughter.
"We have the best-performing arts department in the state," said band instructor Cris Stiles.
"We love how many incredible female athletes we have," added Mountain Ridge Drill Team Coach Blaikly Lever. "I'm so proud of the hard work, dedication and passion they put in every day."
Mountain Ridge isn't just a Cool School because of their school spirit; it also offers a healthy combination of fun and rigor inside the classroom. The school has a variety of AP and Concurrent Enrollment courses. They also have a robust science department and renowned woodworking classes taught by a veteran teacher of nearly 35 years — Mr. Richard Minor.
"I think everybody loves to create and build things. This is where they get to do that," Mr. Minor said.
The approximately 2,800 students who attend Mountain Ridge also have their choice of student groups to get involved in. Right now, their Latinos in Action group is preparing for events throughout Hispanic Heritage Month.
"Latinos in Action is a program that is meant to empower the Latino youth," said one Latinos in Action member.
Mental health is also important to administration, teachers and students. The student group Sources of Strength, or SOS, was created to highlight everyone's strengths and improve mental health.
"Next week we're running Sources of Strength Week. It's an initiative we're doing called 'Find your Strength Week,'" one SOS student said.
There are a lot of things that make Mountain Ridge High a FOX 13 News Cool School, but Darton said this is something she already knew.
"Mountain Ridge is the coolest school, not just this week but year-round because together, we're strong," she said.
If you want to nominate a school for Cool School, you can email nominations to dooddayutah@fox13now.com.
