Donations for our Homelessness Intensive!

At Realms of Inquiry, our students choose a trip or activity to dedicate an entire week to. This year one of our groups decided to dedicate this week to learning about homelessness and gathering donations to help with making sack lunches, donating money to organizations, and gathering clothing to donate to the Teen Shelter! We will be doing projects to assist organizations who helps those who are without a home, adults as well as teens. We will also have a seminar on why homelessness exists, what causes it, and how it can be prevented. This is by far one of the best Fall intensives that Realms of Inquiry has ever had, and we hope that you will assist us in doing our best!

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/share/oYTNTMmZiGjS5ipQ/?mibextid=WC7FNe

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3CSUVJHEVW928?leftNavSection=Reorder&ref_=abls_lnv_rl

What's happening at Realms?

Fall is in full swing at Realms and our students have been hard at work on their courses and designing their projects. Midterm grades come out next week and we’ll have our annual PSAT/NMSQT testing.

Students are excitedly planning their fall intensives that include a rock climbing trip and a homelessness informational week. Our International trip destinations will be announced at our upcoming International Dinner on October 8th. This year is a Spanish intensive year for our students, and we will be visiting Spanish speaking countries, participating in homestays, attending language courses in country, and engaging in some type of service work. We’ll be sharing more information soon!

Back to School at Realms

We are so excited to see our students back! This year we have an incredible opportunity to go white water rafting at the Wild and Scenic designated Grays and Desolation Canyons of the Green River - it’s going to be a blast! More information will be available at our Back to School Night this coming Tuesday, August 13th at 6:30 pm at Realms. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Introducing... the Realms Inquirer Ed. 1

This spring trimester, brave students took on the task of tackling “Journalism 101.” Through interviews, research, and writing, they crafted, edited and produced an article on a topic within a “beat” they found fascinating. I’d like to share their work with the community! Enjoy! - Holly

Pre-order Custom T-shirts design and printed by Realms students!

Check out the designs below and click the link to pre-order your favorite as a hoodie or T-shirt.

More Summer Camp!

Check out our newest Summer Camp offering: Adventure Writing Camp!

2024 Rafting Camp

July 8 - 12. This 5 day/4 night camp will teach students basic whitewater rafting skills on the Salmon River in Stanley, WY. Learn how to use an oar raft and guide a paddleboat, tie knots, and learn valuable river rescue skills. Campers may have the opportunity to roll a kayak and paddle an inflatable. Departing Realms July 8, 2024, returning July 12, 2024. 3 CTE credit available

Realms Raft Guide Camp is here again!

Limited edition 50th Anniversary custom T-shirts! Order Now!

Thank you for supporting our project group with your orders! If you’re looking for other Realms merchandise, please see our 50th Anniversary and Realms Raptor hoodies!

Realms 50th Anniversary Design - made by Sunshine, I wanted to capture the analytical, creative, and adventurous sides of Realms in one design worthy of our 50th anniversary.

Mushrooms - made by Sunshine, I was inspired by all of the mushrooms we saw on our backpacking trip to the Winds this fall. I wanted to tie it in to something weird and mysterious.

Moon Child - made by Ruby, This is a character that I have made several times in many sketchbooks. He watches the world as he fills the moon with stars and as the moon wanes it is him writhing the stories of the world.

Ad Astra - made by Looner, Ad Astra Per Aspera means, "to the stars throughout difficulties." The bunny symbolizes an inner child wanting to catch the stars.

Realms of Inquiry's 50th Anniversary!!

2022-23 marks the 50th anniversary of Realms opening back in 1972. Realms was founded as a special purpose school for the underserved gifted and talented population in the Salt Lake Valley. Realms’ model is unique, just like our students. We strive to develop real world applicable skills and an enduring love for learning in our students. As part of our celebration, we are working to coordinate some events over the year. Current students, alumni, and all members of the Realms community are encouraged to provide feedback in a survey. We plan to post 50th Anniversary events here. Look for more information in October!

Realms Summer Camps are here again!

Newest Issue of Realms Inquiries

Forensic Science & Criminal Justice Summer Camp

Realms was so fortunate to have Brandon Palmer run a week long summer camp. Brandon is a CTE Criminal Justice instructor in Jordan School District at the JATC, an adjunct professor at SLCC, and has won many awards for his excellence in the field of education. He is an inspiring, devoted, fun, and passionate educator. Here is what Brandon has to say about the week…

Student interest matters! When students are interested in a topic they are more engaged and excited about what they are learning. With this in mind, I asked the students which areas of investigations and forensics they were most interested in learning.

The Physics of Blood Spatter

“Forensics camp was rad! I had a ton of fun solving the crime scene the instructor set up for us. The teacher was really cool and taught us a lot of interesting things. I didn’t realize how much went into investigating crimes”

— Alexis

More self-defense with MMA instructor and Realms parent Justin Ellison

The students in this class did not have a problem expressing their opinions or self directing their learning. I was impressed with how well they interacted and how comfortable they were with each other. For an hour or two each morning we did a self defense session and/or law enforcement training and scenarios.  There was a crime scene set up as well that we investigated through out the week as they learned more about forensic evidence and investigative methods. 

Empowering Students with Self-Defense!

Self-Defense

The self defense part had a positive impact on the students and we discussed real life scenarios and psychological effects to knowing and learning how to defend ourselves. One day we had one of the student’s parents (Justin Ellison) visit and teach the class. He was wonderful and had a huge impact on the students.

Learning How to Disarm a Gunman.

“I had so much fun exploring different aspects of forensics at this camp! I really enjoyed solving the crime scene and learning how to pick up fingerprints. I learned lots of new things and would definitely attend this camp again in the future!”

— Sunshine

Police Training

The Students learned the proper way to put on handcuffs. They practiced this throughout the week and on the last day competed in a handcuffing competition. Students were also exposed to “Shoot, No Shoot” scenarios to experience real time situations where they had to decide to shoot a suspect or not.

“I loved learning all of the amazing and interesting things in forensics as well as self-defense. The teacher was so kind and easy to understand, he had the perfect amount of sternness. I had no idea how hard forensics was.”

— Annika

Crime Scene Investigation

Students decided to split into two teams as I introduced the investigation and showed them the crime scene. They decided to split in two teams and compete to see who could solve it first. The integrity these kids had was impressive. The class room was split in two with whiteboards as walls for offices. All the information they collected was written on these whiteboards along with any connections they had made. The students did not even attempt to to cheat off each other. Each team used different methods and went in two distinct and different directions, but came to the same conclusion (almost at the same time).

Each student seemed to get something out of this week and as a teacher, I definitely learned a lot from teaching these students. They were engaged, started great discussions as a class as well as among smaller internal groups. It was exciting to see that the learning continued at home as parents told me that when their child came home they would go over the investigation, discuss ideas or scenarios, and even express interest in certain areas of the criminal justice system!

Thank you for the opportunity to take part in this summer camp! The benefits that come from programs like this are too many to ignore and there needs to be much more.

Thank you Brandon for an amazing week! We hope to see more of you at Realms this year!

Brandon Palmer, M.Ed.

I am not a “glass half full” type of person. I am a “where did I put my glass” kind of person.

I worked in the criminal justice system for 17 years.  In 1999 I started at the Salt Lake County Jail as a correction officer.  I worked in all the different security levels of housing units, training officer, and in processing (booking).  In 2003, I was hired by the West Jordan Police Department.  As a police officer I worked as a patrol officer, trained new officers, and served on the S.W.A.T. team.

As I worked, I continued my education and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, and several years later I earned a Master’s Degree in Secondary Education.  This prepared me for my departure from fulltime law enforcement to education. 

In 2010 I married my beautiful wife, who has supported me through my transition from law enforcement to education.  I have since added 3 more children to my family, totaling 5 amazing children.  Shortly after graduating I began teaching Criminal Justice (CTE, and Concurrent Enrollment) part-time at Copper Hills High School.  In 2016 I began working with the Grizzly’s wrestling team, which I am still doing to this day.

2015 I left the police force, and was fortunate to begin working at Jordan Academy for Technology and Careers (JATC) and became a full time employee with the Jordan School District.  In the summer of 2017 I was given the opportunity to work as an adjunct professor at Salt Lake Community College.

Find Your Path Summer Camp

What a fun week we had exploring, pushing our limits, and trying new things!

“I can’t think of anything more rewarding than being able to express yourself to others through painting. Exercising the imagination, experimenting with talents, being creative; these things, to me, are truly the windows to your soul.”

— Bob Ross

Escape Room

On Monday, we started off with some activities to get to know each other, an escape room, and a discussion on growth mindset. After a brief lunch, we headed off to The PaintMixer where we were challenged to be messy and tune in to our inner Bob Ross, “we don’t make mistakes, we make happy little accidents”.

Tuesday brought us up to Bloods Lake for hiking, flower identification, and some relaxing in the lake.

Wednesday we headed up to Deer Creek Reservoir to swim, paddle, and play at Island Aqua Park. We read ‘Canoe Tripping and Life Lessons”, and had a discussion about lessons learned on trips and in the wilderness. Lesson #3: What Perseverance Looks (and Feels) spearheaded our discussion about not quitting and how it is to find positive within a challenging situation. There was some amazing insight and reflection about times they have had to push through.

On Thursday we spent our morning tapping into our creativity through wire wrapping, jewelry making, rock art, music, and journaling. In preparation for our lesson at Easton Archery Center we discussed the history of archery, its development, and how it has been used throughout the world.

Friday was our Rock climbing day! We spent the whole day at the Ledgemere Picnic area with Realms teacher Ashley alldredge guiding and teaching us all about climbing, knots, communication, safety, and how good it feels to challenge ourselves.

Summer Camp at Realms!

Navigation Summer Camp

By: Lindsay & Ally

What a week full of adventure was had by an energetic and ambitious group of students! Lindsay and Ally are here to recap the fast-paced days of Realms’ first summer camp of the year. 

Each day we explored a different natural feature around the Salt Lake Valley. Due to the extreme heat, our itinerary was changed to include more water-based activities. We had a ton of fun in the sun exploring watersheds, reservoirs, and mountain lakes! 

We kicked off the week learning how to navigate in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Campers used a compass to orient themselves towards true north, taking into account the declination of magnetic north! We then used a map to help us hike to Donut Falls. Once we found the falls everyone had a chance to cool off in the super cold snowmelt runoff.

On day two we cued up a collaborative karaoke playlist and headed out for some tubing adventures on a larger snowmelt watershed, the Provo River! Birds, fish, and even a moose and calf were spotted by the group! 

Our third day consisted of a hike up Ferguson Canyon to climb the eroded granite and reach new heights in terms of our mental and physical limits. Students explored the small canyon looking for geocaches. One student even found a rope swing while geocaching (who knew there were so many hidden gems up there!!). 

On day four we put our navigation skills to the test and successfully navigated using only a map and compass (no trails!) from Mirror Lake to Bonnie Lake. We learned about a few edible plants and tasted some glacier lily and spring beauty along the way (trail snacks). Keeping up with our water theme for the week, students had an opportunity to plunge into the chilly mountain lakes. 

On our last day, we hauled the Realms canoes to Jordanelle Reservoir and enjoyed a much-needed relaxing day on the beach. Nick took some students adventuring around the lake in a canoe while the rest enjoyed the water, group games in the sunshine, and some relaxing summer reading. 

All in all, it was an adventure-packed week! We are proud of all of our navigators for engaging with wild spaces in their Salt Lake City backyard, supporting each other, and successfully picking up the skill of map reading and navigation.

Here’s to the rest of an adventure-filled summer and always finding your way - using trails or not. 

Realms Spring Exhibition 2021

Sweet Pea by Amos Lee Ukulele & vocals by Eve Song Richmond

Thank you to all the friends and family who attended our Performance Exhibition!

Video Games A presentation by Ethan Skogfeldt

Students worked hard this trimester and were finally able to show off their amazing performances and projects in person.

FAST WHEELS video created by Skyler Roscoe, Annika Thatcher, & Devon Sears

Where Is My Love? By SYML Piano and vocals by Thayne Arthur

A HISTORY OF REALMS TRIPS video by Shay Farnsworth

Sweet Pea by Amos Lee Ukulele & vocals by Eve Song Richmond

Video Games A presentation by Ethan Skogfeldt

Killing Me Softly With His Song By Fox and Gimble Ukulele & vocals by Sunshine Rhodehamel

SKI CLUB video production by Ben Alldredge, Owen Measom, & Grady Nelson

SPACE COPS Live Performance

SPACE COPS Live Performance

Written by Skyler Kendall & Sage Cohen-Rider

Directed by Skyler Kendall

Assistant Director: Thayne Arthur

Produced by Grady Nelson

Assistant Producer: Shay Farnsworth

CAST: Skyler Kendal, Daria Weaver, Julian Sears, Thayne Arthur, Erin Stearns, Alexis Charles, Alex Suaste

Aadi Garg, Eli Richmond, Shay Farnsworth, Ben Alldredge, Lilly Jentzch

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING by Anastasiia Voronetska & Aidan Thatcher

Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men Guitar & vocals by Lucy Warner

BREEZEBLOCKS by Alt J, baritone and soprano ukulele & vocals by Eve Song Richmond and Sunshine Rhodenhamel

SKI CLUB video production by Ben Alldredge, Owen Measom, & Grady Nelson

Realms Trips Through the Years by Shay Farnsworth

Realms Masquerade!

Realms Masquerade 2021 was a huge success! We had so much fun doing karaoke, dancing, and playing games. It was an all-out amazing and unforgettable evening!