In 4th grade, I attended Uintah elementary school in the Salt Lake City School District.

My teacher seemed nice but the whole class singled me out.

Every day I could tell no one wanted anything to do with me. Then one day one of the kids came up to me & said, "Why would I want to sit by you? Don't you know that what your parents are doing is illegal?" (I knew he was referring to plural marriage because I had heard the whispers all year.)

That same year, during the month of December, the class was permitted to have all their desks in one big circle around the classroom facing the center so that all the students could sit by their friends at Christmas time. Also it would be easier to play the circle games my teacher had planned for the holiday.

No one wanted me to sit next to them so my desk was alone in the middle of the room. Completely singled out for an entire month. I didn't play the circle games or get included in gift exchanges. I felt very confused as a young child, and I didn't understand what I had done to deserve such cruel treatment from both children and adults at school. 

I was so relieved when I was able to finally attend a school provided by DCCS where I could attend school with peers & teachers who would give me a chance to go to school without worrying about my last name or religious background.  I attended school with other DCCS students from 5th until 8th grade.  Higher grades were not offered privately at the time so it was back to the public school system. 

In 9th grade, I attended Bonneville Jr high in Granite School District. There, I experienced a time when one of my teachers outright blasted my family's religious beliefs as well as some of my family's adult business matters that had been sensationalized on the news to our entire classroom of 9th graders.  She did it in every class period for the remainder of the day. The whole school called my family the crime family after that.