Amplify Utah supports and facilitates dynamic journalistic storytelling to celebrate diverse points of view. By partnering with traditional media, we cultivate an environment that encourages stories be shared widely and made easily accessible for our communities to read, hear, watch and engage.
Sandy’s new female speaking club strives to amplify women’s voices
07-06-2025 By Savannah Stacey
These women have entered their public speaking era.
Utah Vipers women’s rugby team takes shot at a national title
05-15-2025 By Elle Crossley
There’s “no choice but to win” for this team, whose members range in age from 18 to 52.
80 Years Later: Student Documentary Revisits Utah's Topaz Camp
05-11-2025 By Jordan Thornblad
"It [is] so important to Utah history that we don’t brush this under the rug."
Your voices matter. Let us help you get your stories out to our media partners.
Amplify Utah helps facilitate the connection between student work and traditional media outlets to encourage more diversity of voices.
For those interested in replicating, adapting or building upon the Amplify project in your own community, we've put together a comprehensive playbook. We are also happy to share with you a branding toolkit to get you started.
An old tire shop was transformed into a bookstore just three years ago on a busy corner street in Millcreek.
The large garage windows bring in light that pours over thousands of books. Rows of tall shelves are broken up by seating areas. Old church pews sit next to the fiction novels, surrounded by hardbound classics. In the religious studies section, two chairs face each other with a chessboard sitting on an end table, waiting to be played.
Marissa’s Books holds genres from art, science, the occult, and more. It stocks used and antique books, and sells new books online.
Just inside the entrance is a display of diverse queer literature, settled around a rainbow bull. The books cover multiple facets of LGBTQ+ topics. A book on transgender history, informative books on inclusive vocabulary, queer fiction and children’s books all sit side by side, waiting for someone to come sweep them away.
“We have a whole collection of banned books,” said Cindy Dumas, owner and founder of Marissa’s Books. “The trouble is that [the list of banned titles] keeps expanding.”
In August, Utah’s Alpine School District backed away from a plan to remove 52 books from classrooms and school libraries, according to PEN America, a nonprofit group that uses the advancements in literature and human rights to defend free expression. Many of the titles considered for remove have LGBTQ+ themes, including “This One Summer” by Mariko Tamaki and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson.
Other Utah school districts also saw book bans. The Davis School District removed 33 books from shelves last November, and officials there were reviewing another 32, according to the Standard-Examiner. The Washington County School District has removed 44 titles, as of December, the St. George News reported.
In all three cases, several of the books dealt with race and gender identity.
The removal of books from school shelves has spurred community support from Salt Lake City independent bookstore owners.
“We all have a voice, and that voice can be powerful,” said Ken Sanders, longtime owner and namesake of Ken Sanders Rare Books, which specializes in rare, antique and used books. “And independent bookstores have historically been known for vigorously opposing censorship.”
Nationwide, PEN America found that in the second half of 2022, 1,477 individual books were banned in U.S. schools, affecting 874 unique titles. That’s up 28% from the first half of 2022.
A large percentage of the books targeted are about people of color and LGBTQ+ people, PEN America found. In the second half of 2022, 30% of the unique titles were about race, racism or featured people of color — and 26% had LGBTQ+ themes or characters.
Of the books that were targeted in the Alpine School District, PEN America reported, 21 of them — or 41% — had LGBTQ+ themes or characters.
The Utah school districts that have removed books are following a law passed by the Utah Legislature in 2022. HB374 prevents “certain sensitive instructional materials” from appearing in books in public schools. According to the law, when a parent raises opposition to a title, a district committee will inspect the book’s contents and make a decision about its removal.
Dumas, at Marissa’s Books, said barring such titles keeps young readers from ideas about the world and themselves.
“How can a person tell their story when their voice is taken away?” she said.
Anne Holman, co-owner of The King’s English Bookstore, which sells all new books, said that Utah historically hasn’t been a place where books are banned. She said the rise in book bans is the fault of a few very loud, fearful people.
“Free speech is paramount,” Holman said. “Books are a safe place.”
Booksellers at The King’s English want everyone to have ready access to diverse literature, Holman said. The bookstore has a new initiative, using a “book-mobile” to bring new books to children and adults who don’t have time or access to them, she said. Through this program, participants will receive a “golden ticket,” which can be used as currency to buy books offered in the mobile store.
Kerrie Baughman, who has taught English at Highland High School for 30 years, said she worries books are being challenged based on politically-charged media perceptions and not because parents understand the stories. If parents are willing to read the books they want banned, there’s room for a conversation, she said. But if they haven’t read the books, she said, “stop already.”
“[Students] need the opportunity to find something that represents their values,” said Baughman. “Especially in public education.”
Baughman said that, as a cisgender and straight white woman, she cannot always understand or connect with students who don’t see themselves represented. Kids, she said, need to be shown through example what they can become. Taking away the limited representation that exists endangers that potential.
“I wish there were more positive role models that kids could turn to and see themselves,” Baughman said. “Not always as a victim or a problem person. Because the world abounds in those good people.”
Holman said children of every age also need spaces where they can be recognized, safe, and see others like themselves. Lack of representation, she said, can alter children’s self-views, causing division and feelings of isolation.
“When you have a skewed vision of who you are, then how can you aspire to be your best self?” Holman said.
Kaitlin Mahoney, owner and founder of queer-friendly Under the Umbrella bookstore, said that if children don’t have access to representation of themselves through literature, their identities are closed off to them.
“It just leads to further marginalization, and that’s devastating,” said Mahoney.
In a 2015 Gallup poll measuring the percentage of adults who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community in major cities in the United States, Salt Lake City was ranked seventh, at 4.7%.
Mahoney said communities need spaces that “validate and celebrate,” and that need is what made places like Under the Umbrella possible. The $56,000 initial inventory for the shop, she said, was purchased with money raised with IndieGogo, a crowd-funding app.
“From the very beginning, this has been a community effort. And right away queer people started coming here and have been coming back,” Mahoney said.
Mahoney offers a community gift card for teachers seeking to buy queer literature for their classrooms. Any customer can donate to this “card,” which will supplement educators’ purchases.
Conversations about censorship in education, however, are far from new, according to the National Council of Teachers of English.
In 2000, the organization issued a joint statement with the International Reading Association, emphasizing that “all students in public school classrooms have the right to materials and educational experiences that promote open inquiry, critical thinking, diversity in thought and expression, and respect for others.”
Bookstore owners said they agree that information should be given in degrees. Sanders said booksellers “have long been bastions of free speech” and can combat such ignorance by simply making sure challenged and banned titles are available in their shops for people who want to find those books.
Children need access to the information that’s age-appropriate, he said, noting that kids in elementary, junior high, and high school all have different abilities to understand complicated topics.
Parents who use their personal prejudices to keep information from all children, Sanders said, are also helping independent community bookstores find new titles to stock. Not every challenged book is one Sanders may have known before, he said — so he uses the curiosity factor as a marketing tactic, with a large sign just inside his store that says “read banned books.”
“Whatever kind of censorship it is,” Sanders said, “we’ll continue to speak out, and they can’t stop us. They won’t stop us.”
When young people have access to the many ideas books present early in life, Holman said, they are able to better understand the world around them as they grow up and can make connections and put big ideas into context.
“If you give people information at an early age and you give it appropriately, it makes it so they can make better choices,” she said.
For this reason, Cindy Dumas said she won’t buy “altered” versions of banned books to sell at Marissa’s, because adapted stories compromise the integrity of what the authors are trying to say. She will, however, offer other, age-appropriate options alongside the banned books.
“Bookstores [aren’t] meant to be the parent,” she said. “We want to have all of it.”
Tyffton Bowman wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. It is published as part of a new collaborative including nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.
###
NOTE TO MEDIA PARTNERS PUBLISHING WORK
We also request organizations include the following text either at the beginning or end of the story text :This story is jointly published by nonprofits Amplify Utah and [Your Media Organization's Name] to elevate diverse perspectives in local media through emerging journalism. Tyffton Bowman wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. For more stories from Amplify Utah, visit amplifyutah.org/use-our-work.
This story is jointly published by nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune to elevate diverse perspectives in local media through student journalism.
A round of penalty shootouts ended a recent Junior Grizzlies hockey practice, with teammates slapping their sticks on the ice and shouting encouragement. One by one, each youth player in the 16-and-under league took his turn facing the goaltender, practicing for a dream game-winning moment.
“Let’s go! Bar-down-ski!” Colton DeBirk cheered as his teammate sped toward the goal, dribbling the puck with his stick.
This early December night at the Ice Sheet Skating Rink at the Weber Sports Complex in Ogden represents one of many scenes where Utah kids are building their dreams of one day playing in the National Hockey League.
DeBirk is just one of many youth hockey players in the state who share a love and passion for the sport. With the arrival of a new professional sports franchise in Salt Lake City, the Utah Hockey Club, a new era has begun for youth hockey culture across the valley.
“The NHL team has brought an enthusiasm and drive to the market that we haven’t seen since the 2002 Winter Olympic Games,” said Mariko Rollins, director of the Ice Sheet at the Weber Sports Complex.
According to Kristen Bowness, youth program director for the Utah Hockey Club, all 32 NHL teams have youth hockey programs that give children access to play hockey, develop a love for the sport, and ultimately grow the game’s market.
“The youth hockey program’s primary mission is to expose as many kids to the game as possible,” Bowness said. “There are so many different avenues you can explore when it comes to hockey fandom, and we want to take full advantage of every opportunity.”
The Utah Hockey Club’s starter program, Hockey 101, aims to bring wider knowledge of and participation in hockey to Utah youth of all backgrounds, Nate Martinez, youth director for the Utah Hockey Club, said on KSL Sports’ “Utah Puck Report” podcast.
“Our first touch point … is what we’re calling Hockey 101, the street equivalent of trying hockey for free,” Martinez said on the podcast, posted Nov. 18. “So you can go to the rink, put on your mittens and your bike helmets, and go try hockey for free, … even if you don’t want to put on skates.”
The club, Bowness said, employs a mix of strategies to support existing hockey culture and invite new participants into the world of youth hockey.
“Right now, our youth program is working on growing street hockey initiatives, collaborating with established youth hockey organizations and promoting our league-wide, learn-to-play initiative, which is intended for those same youth hockey organizations to grow their programming and boost their ecosystem,” she said.
Martinez, who has an extensive background in promoting youth athletics in conjunction with professional sports, has also led the state’s successful Junior Jazz program since 2016. Bowness said the hockey club intends to follow that model.
“The goal for our street hockey initiative is to emulate the structure of Junior Jazz,” she said. “We are working with all the parks and rec departments throughout the state to host hockey 101 and clinics to, hopefully, develop a street hockey league.”
The strategy, Martinez added, includes offering coach training and free hockey equipment. The goal, he said, is to build on this foundation in various local Utah communities.
Martinez told KSL that one obstacle to reaching a large audience for youth hockey is the cost of the gear needed to play the sport. The Utah Hockey Club, he said, has plans to help remove that barrier and make the youth program accessible to all.
“We’ll go to rec center [and] these different places and say, ‘Hey, these are free; come try it out,’” Martinez said on the podcast. “We’ll give you a stick, you can hit a puck, you can do these things. We’ll give you a T-shirt, we’ll give you some swag. Get you excited about the game.”
Bowness said she’s confident the sport has an attraction all its own.
“From street hockey to ice hockey, in physical education classes or at your local parks and rec departments, every child should have the opportunity to put a hockey stick in their hand and simply be given the chance to play,” she said. “Once they do, they’re typically hooked.”
The Utah Hockey Club’s youth initiative is aimed at increased participation among both boys and girls, Bowness said.
“This is where our learn-to-play program can really help boost our youth hockey numbers, as well as various initiatives to encourage growth in the girls’ game,” she said.
Rollins said youth hockey has benefits that extend far beyond the ice.
“Ice hockey uses many facets of a young person’s development to improve at skating and playing the game, developing … motor skills and cognitive function,” she said. “Many young players begin to thrive at school and in other sports as they develop as hockey players.”
In addition to aiding personal development, youth hockey fosters young people’s social flourishing, Rollins added.
“It’s also team-oriented, but based on an individual’s ability to develop their own skills,” she said. “Once players have the skill, they must also learn to be great teammates, which is another layer of complexity that kids crave.”
(Westly Brown | Amplify Utah) Members of the Junior Mustangs 12U teams practice their stick skills at the Weber Sports Complex in Ogden.
While the Utah Hockey Club has brought a new infusion of energy into Utah youth hockey, the sport has been prevalent in the area for decades.
“Utah [youth hockey] has been thriving for quite some time,” said Rollins. “Our teams have made appearances at nationals for the last four straight seasons, which is remarkable.”
Last April, Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz, announced that his Smith Entertainment Group would bring the NHL to Salt Lake City, moving the former Phoenix Coyotes franchise to the Delta Center. Utah HC’s inaugural season started in September, signaling Salt Lake City’s status as a growing professional sports market.
Rollins said she expects the arrival of the NHL to lead to even greater participation in youth hockey.
“The enthusiasm and resources that the [club] has brought will continue to improve access to new players as that organization builds more facilities and utilizes the starter programs the NHL has in place,” she said.
She added that youth hockey’s impact promises to reach beyond the ice for Utah’s youth.
“Kids are social creatures, and ice hockey is very social,” said Rollins, adding there are many other ways to get involved with the sport as well. “Not all kids will be athletes. Some will participate as game attendees, one day becoming announcers, broadcasters, commentators, camera operators, team trainers, coaches, and other team and arena staff.”
For many of the Junior Mustangs 16U teams, on a cold December night in Ogden, however, NHL glory is the ultimate goal.
Westly Brown wrote this story as a journalism student at the University of Utah. It is published as part of a collaborative including nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.
As the nation’s economy continues to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, employers in Utah may have more options for filling job vacancies than in other states.
Utah teens ages 16–19 make up 7% of the state’s entire workforce, The Salt Lake Tribune reported in May, well above the national rate of 3.7%. Wisconsin, ranked second, counts teens in that range as only 5.4% of its workforce.
But there is another important data point to pay attention to: The percentage of Utah teens who work. Wisconsin comes in first, with 59.9% of teens there having some kind of job, but Utah isn’t far behind. As of 2023, nearly 57% of Utah teens have a taxable income, according to Mark Knold, chief economist at the Utah Department of Workforce Services.
Knold said he thinks Utah’s typically larger size of families helps explain the trend.
“The more children you have, the less money [there is] to distribute out to [them],” Knold said. “Teens [in Utah] have more of an incentive to go out and get a job, to help out, or to get some [of their own] spending money. There’s more competition in the household itself for access to parents’ income.”
Another contributing factor, Knold said, is that the job market in Utah has shown 3% growth consistently for several years, leading to a higher demand for a wider variety of workers.
“We’re really in an environment where we’re asking for more labor than what’s available, so it’s really a strong environment for teenage workers,” Knold added.
To work full time in most states, a teenager must be at least 16 years old, according to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. According to Utah law, there are several types of jobs that can legally employ younger children. In Utah, a 10-year-old can deliver newspapers, and a 14-year-old can work at a neighborhood fast-food restaurant or in snow removal — though there are limits on the number of hours they’re allowed to work.
In recent months, three Utah companies have been caught breaking federal and state child labor laws.
Last December, 11 locations of the Crumbl cookie chain were found guilty of letting children 10 to 14 years of age work more hours than what is federally legal. A restaurant supply store in Salt Lake City was also found guilty of a similar matter, incurring a $17,000 penalty. And the Utah-based soda and dessert chain Sodalicious was found guilty of permitting teens as young as 14 to work past federally restricted hours on school nights.
The U.S. Department of Labor, which investigated those three businesses, found a 37% national increase in the number of minors whose employment has violated federal labor laws in some way since 2021, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
It’s no coincidence that those three employers were operating in the food service and retail industries. Knold said that, in Utah, the majority of teenagers get their first jobs in the service industry.
But what if a teen worker has other plans besides flipping burgers or stocking shelves? According to Knold, experience in the working world supplements a teen’s academic career rather than detracting from it.
With a job, Knold said, “you can show a skill set, you can show a work history, and also understand what the workplace is like, compared to … the school environment.”
In the working world, Knold added, “there’s no re-doing a test or getting credit for turning in late homework. That’s not how the working and business communities operate. So, you get that knowledge and experience in terms of what it will take to succeed in the workforce.”
Sam Kinghorn, 17 and a senior at Skyline Valley High School, started working at the Chick-fil-A in Salt Lake City’s Sugar House neighborhood in May. While Kinghorn said he was first motivated by the prospect of saving his own money, he added that the experience of working in a fast-paced restaurant environment has reinforced a sense of responsibility.
“One thing I’ve learned is [to be] responsible for your actions in the workplace,” Kinghorn said, “especially in a fast-food working environment [where] everything is so fast-paced [and] you have to make sure everything’s accurate.”
While there are limits on the number of hours teenage employees can work per week at Chick-fil-A — a number that decreases in months when school is in session — Kinghorn said the environment is conducive not only to customer service but team-building.
Kinghorn described how many of his Chick-fil-A coworkers have flocked from surrounding neighborhoods, some from as far as Bingham High School in South Jordan. And they’ve mostly all stuck around.
“They’ve all decided to come here because they wanted the work experience,” Kinghorn said. “And once they’ve been able to connect with all of their coworkers, they don’t want to leave.”
This was especially important for Kinghorn when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, around the same time he graduated from middle school to high school.
Because of social distancing, he said, “it was really hard for me to talk to people. … So, getting this job, where I’m constantly communicating with other people, has really helped.”
In the summer, when he wasn’t traveling with family, Kinghorn worked 40 hours per week at Chick-fil-A. However, during school months, the state requires that he step it down to 20 hours per week. He works these hours consistently, he said.
Kinghorn has some coworkers who are 14 and 15. They can only clock up to 2½ hours on any day that they work.
While Kinghorn said his long-term plans likely don’t involve food service, 17-year-old Liam Pool, a high schooler at Summit Academy and a tire and oil tech at Burt Brothers in Draper, has found his high school job has helped him develop skills that will help him pursue his dream of opening his own auto mechanic shop.
Pool has worked at Burt Brothers since he was 16 — ever since he was old enough to get a license, which is required for pulling cars to and from the shop’s lot. Before Burt Brothers, Pool’s first job was also at Chick-fil-A, at a franchise in Murray.
Pool said that, like Kinghorn, Chick-fil-A mostly taught him about customer service. However, when Pool became old enough to drive, he said he sought out work at a mechanics’ shop, so he could build on what he already knew — and to stave off the doldrums of school nights.
“I would go to school all day, do homework, then just sit around,” Pool said. “I’m a very energetic teenager, so as soon as I could drive, I got a job.”
Pool’s interest in mechanic’s work comes naturally. Both his father and grandfather, he said, are skilled home mechanics who taught him the basics of such things as oil changes and fuel flushes. His favorite car to work on, he said, was the Willy’s Jeep that his father owns, a WWII-era model that was used by the U.S. Army and remains a collector’s favorite.
Pool, who said he has a 3.5 grade point average at Summit Academy, is scheduled to graduate in December. He has worked hard to graduate six months early, he said, and it’s going to pay off soon.
“I’ve learned a lot here,” Pool said. “And if I go to a trade school, I’ll be a step ahead of other kids that go to a trade school without the experience.”
Pool works 20 hours per week while in school, but will step up to 40 hours per week when he graduates. A typical day sees him come in after spending the morning in class, and working from 1 to 6 p.m. He’s part of a team of 4 or 5 people, working on each car that comes in. As he strives to meet Burt Brothers’ deadlines, Pool said he has learned the benefits of being efficient and skillful, all to give the customer a good experience.
Kinghorn and Pool share much in common with many Utah teenagers. Many have jobs, and those who do — within their legally regulated hours — find practical ways to succeed, and experience life outside of a classroom.
“This is where I want to learn and keep my life going,” Kinghorn said.
Kyle Forbush wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. It is published as part of a new collaborative including nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.
###
We also request organizations include the following text either at the beginning or end of the story text :This story is jointly published by nonprofits Amplify Utah and [Your Media Organization's Name] to elevate diverse perspectives in local media through emerging journalism. Kyle Forbush wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. For more stories from Amplify Utah, visit amplifyutah.org/use-our-work.
Students who have walked through the Academic and Administration Building at Salt Lake Community College’s Taylorsville Redwood Campus may have noticed new signs outside certain restrooms.
The signage is bright green and features three circles — which read “body,” “mind” and “spirit” — surrounding an image of a restroom stick figure.
Those signs are part of a pilot program from SLCC’s Student Association, or SLCCSA, to make single-occupancy restrooms at the college more gender inclusive. The group initiated the pilot program toward the end of this year’s summer semester – and now, it is making plans for what comes next.
“SLCCSA’s goal is [for students to feel] comfort in restrooms that align with their gender expression or identity,” said Timothy Davis, director of the Thayne Center for Student Life, Leadership and Community Engagement.
Initial rollout of the green signage stalled because some of the signs were falling off the walls to which they were attached. Also, according to SLCCSA President Lindsay Simons, a miscommunication led Student Center Operations to take down signage that they mistook for unauthorized postings.
Despite the setbacks, Davis said the response from students has been positive. “Students shared their appreciation for this step forward,” he said, adding that SLCCSA is ready to proceed with future plans for restroom signage.
“We have some exciting new prototypes developed,” Davis said. “In the coming weeks, SLCCSA will relaunch with a jointly approved sticker in some select locations, and will remove any remaining signage from the pilot.”
After the redesigned signs are in place, Davis said, SLCCSA will seek additional feedback from students before expanding the program.
Current plans, however, go beyond signage. SLCCSA’s executive council voted unanimously to implement inclusive restroom design, a long-campaigned request from the college’s Queer Student Association and the Gender and Sexuality Student Resource Center.
According to Davis, inclusive restroom design could entail multi-stall restrooms not segregated by gender, but he said that no announcements are ready to be made yet.
New plans for inclusive restroom design will not include the Applied Technology Building, set to reopen next year after a fire in 2020 required the building to undergo reconstruction.
Jonny Tollestrup wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. It is published as part of a new collaborative including nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.
###
We also request organizations include the following text either at the beginning or end of the story text:
This story is jointly published by nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune to elevate diverse perspectives in local media through student journalism. Jonny Tollestrup wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. For more stories from Amplify Utah, visit amplifyutah.org/use-our-work.
To learn more about issues and initiatives related to the LGBTQ+ community at SLCC, visit the GSSRC via its webpage, slcc.edu/gssrc, or their office at the South City Campus, or follow them on Instagram at @slccgssrc.
