For 15 years, students of all ages across Canyons School District have competed in the annual CSDtv Film Festival. Each festival entry is directed, acted, and produced by a student or teacher, from documentaries and shorts to podcasts and stop-motion creations. One winner comes out on top in each age bracket and category.

This year was the first year students at Entrada High School chose to compete in the film festival, which drew 242 entries from 610 contestants. Not only did they excel, they won the category of High School Documentary.

“I didn’t think we were going to win. It’s so cool that we won, especially with the whole process we went through,” says Michelle Nolaca, one of the student directors of, “Students of Entrada – Voices of Tomorrow.”

Production for the film began long before students even picked up a camera and shouted, “action!” At the beginning of the school year, Entrada teacher Baylee Riley applied for an Innovation Grant through the Canyons Education Foundation.

Behind every successful school stands an army of dedicated volunteers—parents who give their time selflessly to enrich student experiences and support faculty. Every day thousands of volunteers are lending a helping hand all across Canyon School District. Whether they're spending time in the classroom, cutting out shapes for a kindergarten project, or helping on a field trip, they're the relatively unknown force behind our educators.

This week is Public School Volunteer Week, so we sat down with two volunteers who have dedicated thousands of hours to their children’s school. Sandy Elementary PTA President Mallory Boggs say she started volunteering to be closer to her own children and now she feels like she is the fun aunt of more than 500 students.

"I met this community of people that I didn't really know I needed," she says, “but I did and I love it. They’re such valued members of my life now.”

Boggs grew up watching her mom who was PTA President at Sprucewood Elementary and knew she wanted to be a part of that community when she had children of her own. Now, Boggs is leaving her impact not just on the Sharks community, but the entire state as she has been named the 2025 PTA Outstanding Volunteer Award for the state of Utah.

Boggs says she has seen the impact of parent volunteers, whether helping at one event, cutting out shapes for a class, even seeing parents start out small and jump into the deep end of PTA and volunteering – like Sandy’s PTA president-elect for next year, Kara Olson.

“I just got hooked by these crazy ladies and I love being in the school,” says Olson. “I love getting to know the kids. I love getting to know the teachers.”

Boggs and Olson say they are lucky to be able to spend as much time volunteering at Sandy Elementary as they do, but they understand not all parents or guardians can give the same amount of time, but they’ve seen even an hour of volunteering pay off.

“Your teacher always wants your help,” says Olson. “Whether it's cutting out shapes, coming in and doing a bulletin board, reading, volunteering, correcting, spelling tests, anything, just reach out to your teachers.”

Episode Chapters

2:42 The Role of PTA at Sandy Elementary

Our volunteers talk about the roles they play at Sandy Elementary, how they help teachers, faculty and staff, and most importantly, the students.

7:37 Why They Choose to Volunteer

Boggs and Olson share why they decided to volunteer and what keeps them going back to help their Shark community.

11:22 Making a Difference with Limited Time

While some parents like Boggs and Olson can have given thousands of hours to their school, many parents and guardians don’t have a lot of free time. Our volunteers explain how every little bit helps and no amount of volunteer time is too small.

17:34 Final Thoughts on School Volunteering

Boggs and Olson share their biggest takeaways from their time helping students, how it’s impacted their own lives, and the friendships they’ve made along the way.

Each spring, while students count down the days to summer break, Canyons District’s Human Resources team kicks into high gear. That’s because it’s hiring season, and the task of recruiting the best and brightest teachers for a school district the size and caliber of Canyons is nothing short of Herculean.

In the latest episode of Connect Canyons, we explore how school systems like ours manage to hire hundreds of educators each year while balancing student needs, budget realities, and the ever-changing job market. You’ll hear from CSD’s two crack recruiters, Lori Reynolds and Kelly Tauteoli, both former school principals. And we’ll talk to Canyons Human Resources Director Steve Dimond about all the data-crunching and detail-sweating that goes into calculating how many teachers are needed to staff each one of our 47 schools and programs each year.

“Our goal is to always hire the very best candidates that we can, because that's truly where the rubber hits the road is. If our students are going to make growth and be proficient, it starts with the teacher in the classroom,” Dimond said. “All of us have a teacher who made a difference in their life, and we want make certain that we find those teachers for all of our students.”

1:54 — The Scale of Teacher Hiring
The hiring volume at CSD fluctuates significantly from year-to-year—from 300 teachers three years ago to about 100 projected for this year. The recruiting season begins in February with "crunch time" in March when schools receive their teacher allocations

5:35 — Hiring Challenges and Market Shifts

There are signs that the nationwide teacher shortage has abated. Special education, dual language immersion, math, science, and CTE positions remain the most challenging teaching jobs to fill. But local colleges and universities are starting to train more teacher candidates. CSD also has “grow your own” programs to prime the teacher pipeline.

9:25 — Why Teachers Choose Canyons

Canyons has a reputation for supporting teachers with training and adequate resources. The District’s access to the great outdoors and proximity to the urban perks of Salt Lake City are also big draws. In addition, Canyons has invested heavily in growing teacher salaries; the starting teacher salary is currently $61,610.

14:59 — Forecasting Staffing Needs

Forecasting hiring needs from year-to-year is no small feat. It starts with demographic data and enrollment projections, while taking into consideration the unique programmatic needs of each school. Class size targets vary by grade level: K (22.15), grades 1-3 (22.3), grades 4-8 (26.3), and grades 9-12 (27).