High schoolers share mass transit memories

This week, teen reporters asked their fellow students to reveal their most memorable experiences of riding TRAX:

"One time when I was riding TRAX, me and one of my friends, we met some guys from California and they started asking us what fun things they could do in Utah, because they were having a really boring time. So we told them, 'Well we're only 16,' and they said that they thought we were older. They were quiet for a little while, and then they started to talk about 'Spider-Man,' and then they showed us all their tattoos, and then they said, 'Do you know that you have a fine when you spit in Utah?' And they started to complain about the fines they were getting." -- Leslie Tidwell, junior, West Jordan High School

"We were talking to this grandpa, and he was talking about his theories of life and how everyone is getting lazy, and pretty soon the world is going to be in poverty." -- Rachelle Goddard, junior, Murray High School

"My best experience on TRAX was when I was with my (church group), and the part where the two trains connect, we kind of surfed on it." - - Alicia Williams, sophomore, West Jordan

"One time I was going downtown on TRAX, and there was a middle- aged guy sitting across the aisle from me. I don't know who he was talking to or who was listening, but he was just swearing up a storm. There was an older guy sitting across from him, and he just totally told the guy off. He said, 'We're in a public place, and if you've got a foul mouth, keep it yourself!' The (swearing) guy was totally shocked and just sat there the rest of the time, not saying a word to anyone." -- Danny Gunderson, senior, Cottonwood High School

"Last year, my family and I went downtown on TRAX around the time of the Olympics, so it was quite crowded. Yet, people continued to get on, so I decided to smash my face up against the window at the stops, so it looked like it was even more crowded than it really was. It was fun to see the expressions on people's faces. Some looked shocked, some tried not to look at us and others just laughed." -- Josh Coon, senior, Murray

"My most interesting experience on TRAX is when this guy came and sat across from me and he took off his shoes and started drying his feet with his coat, so I moved to another seat." -- Alex Fauver, junior, West Jordan

"The funnest thing that we do on TRAX is, we stand up, and when they take off from the stations, we try to brace ourselves to see if we can stay standing up. Sometimes it doesn't work, and we fall into each other, and it's really fun." -- Angela Mabey, junior, Cottonwood

"This old guy kept staring at me the whole time I was going downtown. It was kind of weird but funny." -- Matt Collins, junior, Murray

"I was on TRAX with a group of friends, and when we were about to get off, there was this guy who had an older guy with him, and he asked us if we would help the older guy cross the street because he couldn't do it by himself, and couldn't see the cars coming. So we said that we would help. Then, when we got off and went toward 90th South, the guy just kept walking, and we were like, 'Sir, there's a car coming,' and he just said, 'Don't touch me,' and kept on walking. So we told him again that there was a car coming, and my friend went out and tried to grab him to stop him from walking out in the road, and he hit her with his umbrella. He ends up crossing the street and all these cars had to stop for him. It was crazy!" -- Megan Lambert, sophomore, West Jordan

"One time, me and one of my friends were on TRAX and people started to take pictures of us. Why, I don't know. That was kind of weird." -- Ethan Hind, junior, West Jordan

Mallory Hill is a junior at Murray High School, Cody Rogers is a junior at West Jordan High School and Brooke Niemeyer is a junior at Cottonwood High School.

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