Connect Canyons
Learning is about making connections, and we invite you to learn and connect with us. Connect Canyons is a show about what we teach in Canyons District, how we teach, and why. We get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great: students, teachers, principals, parents, and more. We meet national experts, too. And we spotlight the “connection makers” — personalities, programs and prospects — we find compelling and inspiring.
Connect Canyons
Ep 89: Utah Royals Roster Bolstered by Talents, Skills of Alta High Graduates
Michele Vasconcelos set the Alta High record for the number of goals scored in a single season when she dominated the prep scene in 2011 with her Hawk teammates. The big moment came during the 65th minute of the 5A state championship at the then-Rio Tinto Stadium that gave the Hawks the state trophy. That record stood until 2016 when Brecken Mozingo, who grew up just blocks away from Vasconcelos, soared on the pitch for Alta.
The skills and grit they learned in Alta High’s storied girls soccer program have served them both well as they’ve continued to chase their soccer dreams on a national stage — which, coincidentally, doubles as the playing field of their hometown crowd.
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyons School District. This is a show about what we teach, how we teach and why we get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more. We meet national experts too. Learning is about making connections, so connect with us.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone and welcome to Connect Canyons. I'm your host, frances Cook. I'm here at the Zions Bank Stadium and Training Center. It's the home away from home for the Utah Royals Real Salt Lake and the home of the Real Monarchs At Canyon School District. We know our students are talented. Some of them wear their talents on their sleeve, while others play it a little close to the vest. So, while our students are talented, some of them wear their talents on their sleeve, while others play it a little close to the vest. So, while our students are learning and growing, we wanted to sit down with two alumni who are showing what it means to be Canyon strong. With a little bit of determination and a lot of hard work, they're proving that Canyon students can achieve their dreams, just like they're doing with our own Utah Royals.
Speaker 3:I loved my time at ALTA, especially, you know, being a student athlete and learning how to balance that aspect of life with, you know, getting my school done. But also practice. I loved like challenging myself with the classes that ALTA offered, like the AP courses, even like the math college. I really enjoyed being able to push myself not only in soccer but in the classroom as well. School was awesome.
Speaker 4:I was the girl that had her headphones in, would walk from class to class. All the teachers were great. The curriculum in each class was awesome. I felt like there was a lot of different classes that I got to explore in terms of different subjects computer science, language arts or English classes, even AP classes. I think that really helped out a lot like in terms of me wanting to take them and get ready for college, get some classes taken out.
Speaker 4:Soccer in high school was awesome. I only played two years, but I look back on it and I do kind of regret not playing my last two years. It was just so much fun and the relationships I created with a lot of the girls was just fun and it just like made soccer so fun. I also feel gratitude for playing for my community and playing for my family and having my family be able to come to all my games. All my brothers play baseball and they're all in competitive sports, so they my parents got to take care of them. Now you know like they took care of me. I'm on my own now, but now that I'm here they get to come to so many more games than they would if I was on a different team out of state and, plus, like me and her both grew up like a couple blocks away from each other and the drive down to the stadium is literally I think it was like 10 minutes. It's just full circle, full swing. It's awesome.
Speaker 3:Being able to play at BYU was super close, you know, with the community and then having that contrast of being out of state for, I think, six years. It was tough, especially like having a daughter being away from family, grandparents, friends, you know. It's been so amazing. It was definitely what I wanted at the time. Coming home and, like Brecken said, like having your family at games is it's just really cool.
Speaker 4:Just stay present. I think that's the number one thing. And just acceptance in general, like accept, kind of what's happening. You can obviously change it, but accept it for what it is and just take it for what it is and just show up every day, like be consistent with yourself and be disciplined enough to be like, okay, whatever's in the tank today, like I'm giving everything that I have today on the field or in the classroom, whatever it is, like you may not be going through a tough time now, but in the future you might be. Just know that life is, life is a gift and sometimes it's crazy and it's a roller coaster, goes up and down, but just being ready for those, those challenges, it's okay to talk to people, you know, I think I'd always be like no, I got this, I can just do this.
Speaker 3:But it can be really hard and challenging on your own, and so you know, to reach out and get the help that you need. There's seasons of life, you know, sometimes it's super hard and I think, you know, I think in high school, it's easy to have that mindset of like all consuming, all encompassing, almost blinders. On that, you're like I'm never gonna get to get through this, you know. But it's like there are seasons, and so I just try to remind myself that, like when things aren't going well, that like this is a season for this, like she said, like what can I learn from this? And that you know, just finding joy in each of the moments and gratitude that you know, when things are great, you're like oh, this is, this is nice, like this is a great feeling for tuning in to this episode of Connect Canyons.
Speaker 2:We also want to give a big thank you to Michelle and Brecken for sitting down with us and sharing their stories. If there's a topic you'd like to hear discussed on the podcast, send us an email to communications at canyonsdistrictorg.
