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DELTA — Almost any teacher will tell you one way to keep students engaged in their classwork, especially at the beginning of the school year, is to make it fun.
"One of the things I love to do is to really get kids excited about learning," Carolyn Taylor, a teacher at Delta Middle School, said.
It is why Taylor transformed her fifth-grade classroom into New York City, with posters and signs of things like the Statue of Liberty.
"We're learning about immigration and why people came to this country and what the Statue of Liberty meant to them," Taylor said.
Of course, her students know they aren't really in the Big Apple. Just like they know this isn't really their classroom.
"We have had to think outside the box and come up with solutions that worked," Taylor said.
Their classroom is actually in the Millard County School District Office Building in a room where principals normally meet with the district superintendent.
The students still go to lunch at Delta Middle School across the street, but right now, there isn't enough room for all the classes.
At least, not after the fire.
"Well, we didn't really have an idea of what damage had been done to our school or our classroom or what it was going to look like," Taylor said.
This past June, a fire began burning in the middle school gymnasium.
According to fire investigators, the fire started by the spontaneous combustion of materials that had been removed from the gymnasium floor.
The materials were put into a large trash can in the gymnasium, which then heated, began to smoke, and started to burn.
"It kind of vented right through the roof there," Matt Bassett, Delta Middle School principal, said, pointing at the roof of the gymnasium.
Even though Bassett said firefighters put the fire out fast, there was a lot of damage to the gym and plenty of smoke damage throughout the school. It meant not all the classrooms could be used when school began, which happened last week.
"We have got, actually, 10 teachers displaced," Bassett said.
The band is now in the choir room.
The choir is in the computer lab.
Even the library is now a classroom, as well as a couple of classes that are in the district office.
Bassett said teachers worked hard to make the first day of classes as inviting as possible for students.
"Versatility is what comes to mind when I think of the teachers. They were on the dime, and they were able to adapt. They were able to shift and put in long hours because they care about the students," Bassett said.
The plan was also a way to make sure school started on time last week and so classes could be in person instead of virtual.
"We had talked about going virtual like we did during COVID," Bassett said. "We are happy we were able to do it in person instead. It's just when you get the brains together, you just come up with solutions."
It is also temporary.
All classes should be able to get into the middle school next week for another first day of classes.
"We will get to do it all over again, but it will be worth it," Taylor said.
She knows visiting and teaching her students about New York is nice, but for her, there is nothing like being home.
"I am very happy to be going back in my permanent home," she said.
Repairs to the gymnasium should be done in January. When it opens, Bassett said there will be a celebration and maybe even a game of dodgeball between the students and the firefighters.
He cannot wait for that day to happen.
"It will be good to have everybody back in the same building," he said. "It will be a good day."
