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Telling scary stories is a practice as old as time, from families swapping spooky tales around a campfire to children whispering ghost stories under the protection of a sheet with a flashlight held to their chins.

Scary books are having their moment, and in this Halloween-inspired episode of Connect Canyons, we’re exploring why. Local author, Lehua Parker joins Canyons Library Specialist Gretchen Zaitzeff and teacher librarians Bridget Rees and Jennifer Van Haaften for a conversation about how scary stories give us a controlled way to process real-world fears. They can even function as cautionary tales, reinforcing moral and social codes. Enjoying a spine-tingling thriller with friends and family can even be a bonding experience.

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October is officially recognized nationwide as Bullying Prevention Month, a time when schools, families, and communities unite under a common goal, ensuring that every single student feels safe, valued, and connected when they walk through the doors of every school in Canyons School District.

"Middle school is difficult,” Eric Garder, principal of Albion Middle School said in a recent episode of Connect Canyons. “It is difficult to transition, and it's that time in life that you're making new friends, losing old friends, navigating some social things. And so we just try to make it as a positive environment as possible for the kids every day.”

When we talk about bullying, the numbers can be sobering. Data from the Utah State Board of Education and national health trackers show that roughly one in five students, or about 20-percent of youth, experience bullying during a given school year. And in our digital age, it doesn't just stop when the final school bell rings.

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What does it take to prepare a student for the future?

Strong academic skills matter. But success in college, the workplace, and life also depends on qualities that aren't always captured by a test score: the ability to solve problems, work with others, generate ideas, persist through challenges, and contribute to a community.

Those skills are at the heart of Canyons School District’s Portrait of a Canyons Scholar, a framework that defines the habits every student should develop by the time they graduate from high school. Canyons is now piloting an effort in its middle schools to intentionally embed these competencies into everyday learning.