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Student food drive an epic fail
of The Flathead Arrow
The food drive for the Heart Locker program was very unsuccessful for the month of May. The food drive was run by senior representative student council member Jace Reed.
The food drive was for the Heart Locker, which is where students who have no money or who are not able to collect food for themselves or their families go to get free snacks, free hygiene supplies, and other free items that were donated by other classmates.
"The food drive that just happened was supposed to be for students who don't have access to food over the summer," said Reed.
Due to lack of communication between administration and the student body the food drive was unsuccessful in collecting any items or products for students.
"It didn't go well," said senior student council member Heather Lasalle. "Probably due to because of lack of communication between administrators and student counsel."
Phase two constructions begins at Ag Center
Cole Dykhuizen
With only a few items left on the phase one H.E. Robinson Vo-Ag Center construction punch list, there is a palpable sense of anticipation amongst students and staff as the second phase of construction started in full swing on April 1.
The first phase of construction included a host of improvements to the ag center. A new vet science building was built to allow for a more comprehensive animal science unit in class. A temporary classroom was lifted from its foundation and moved in order to make room for phase two. The greenhouse was also relocated and made 20 feet longer to allow for more elbow room during the annual plant sale. And storage areas were added to the sides of the hay barn to compensate for lost storage as the main building expands. However, the construction company for the first phase--Outback Construction, out of Missoula--struggled with results, then dissolved and packed up and left unfinished business, as well as the fact that another company has to come back through to fix their unsatisfactory work.
"It's chaotic and it's kinda cool to see the daily changes because I am out there everyday to feed my steer," said senior Julie Duffie. "[The vet science building] is really neat. We needed it a long time ago. The new scale is super nice too."
Phase two involves additions to the front and back of the building, connecting to city sewer, remodeling the existing building, and miscellaneous deferred maintenance items. Swank Enterprises had the winning bid out of the three submitted for Phase II.
Areas in the front and back of the building are completely closed due to excavation and foundation work that has started for the new teacher offices, common area, and bathrooms.
Two teachers have had to relocate their classes in order for phase two to progress.
On April 8, Ms. Kaitlin Trutzel's classroom, which is actually an old greenhouse, was torn down to make room for four new classrooms, a new, redesigned shop area, and a plant propagation room.
Construction is expected to last until the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year.
Kalispell FFA best in history of America
Program to earn 75th National Chapter Award, and much more
The Kalispell FFA program is the best in the nation.
It had a very successful week at the State FFA Convention in Bozeman on Saturday, April 6, and was recognized with a state gold chapter award meaning in October the Kalispell FFA chapter will be receiving its 75th National Chapter Award--the most by any program in the history of America.
The whole chapter is excited for the upcoming recognition at the 92nd National FFA Convention in Indianapolis in October.
"It's a big deal," Vo-Ag teacher Mr. Justin Heupel said. "This award is remarkable for our ag program and entire school system, to have such a long-standing, national-level recognition."
Four of five teams placed in the top three of their events. But it wasn't just the teams that experienced success. Eight Flathead students were awarded prestigious degrees, six students placed in the top 10 individually in their events, two students won scholarships, and one student was recognized as the best in the state.
Events were held over the course of three days with competitions being held at the Montana State University campus as well as the Gallatin County Fairgrounds.
The farm business management team won their competition. Individually, seniors Hunter Burden placed fifth, Morgan Kelly fourth, and Cole Dykhuizen third. The other team member is a Glacier student.
"They build up suspense by first calling up the top 10 individuals," Coach Mr. Heupel said. "When I saw that all four [team members] were in the top ten, it took out all the suspense of the moment. I knew we had closed the deal. I am really proud of the group for their passion and interest."
Dykhuizen also won the 2019 Montana Star in Agribusiness, recognizing his ownership of Montana Custom Services and Jumpin' Jim's Stump Grinding.
On April 6, Kelly signed a commitment to pursue a degree at Montana State University-Bozeman in agricultural education as part of the National Association of Agricultural Educators' Teach Ag Campaign.
"I want to become an Ag teacher to inspire the next generation of agriculturists," Kelly said.
She hopes to someday teach in Kalispell or start a new agriculture program in Belt, Mont.
On Friday night, eight Flathead students received their state degree pin, the highest honor the Montana FFA can bestow upon its members. Along with the gold pin they also received a framed certificate and a copy of the April congressional record honoring all of Montana's state degree recipients submitted by Senator Steve Daines.
The national president, Luke O'Leary, attended the entire convention to congratulate award winners and speak at the state degree dinner.
Flathead High School seniors Amber Reiner and Bethany Lyford each received $500 scholarships to use at any institution.
Despite a massive issue on the part of the demonstration timer, the young parliamentary procedure team was able to turn up the heat and take a second place finish to Broadwater County High School. Coach Mr. Heupel expressed his disbelief at the high placing because it was such a young team.
"I couldn't believe it," Mr. Heupel said. "I was stressed out about the competition."
Kalispell placed third in agronomy. Junior Maria Bay placed seventh individually.
"I am very happy with how my team did," Coach Mr. Tucker Hankinson said. "It is a hard event. To be in the top three is a big deal. The team that won has been working for a long time and it came down to a matter of just a few points."
The livestock evaluation team placed second, but will be going to nationals as the Broadwater team is ineligible because it would have an incomplete team. Lyford and senior Maddie Sutton and placed 10th and seventh, respectively. The other two team members are Glacier students.
The mechanics team placed third. Junior Aaron Lang placed 10th individually. Coach Mr. Brian Bay has been able to build up the program from an incomplete team over the last year.
The sales team was the only team not able to make it to the top three. They placed 13th.
"We could have prepared more," senior Mabry Shepard said. "Sales is very competitive and you might be a better salesperson, but it depended on the judge and the luck of the draw. The competition moved really slow and there was a lack of consistency amongst judges."
Senior Bethany Lyford was the only Kalispell FFA member to run for a state officer position. However, she was cut during the interview process. Lyford was initially upset, but has been able to express humor about the situation. She has no plans to run again next year.
Art Club Remains Lively Throughout Year
The Flathead High School Art Club started up very early in the school year but contrary to many clubs, its longevity has only helped it.
Art teacher, Ms. Kristin Caratelli, who has worked here at FHS for five years, has been a part of art club for her whole FHS career and was also involved in art club a bit before hand.
"I did do art club with younger kids at a nonprofit art center in Whitefish," Ms. Caratelli said. "But… (FHS) is my first high school experience with art club."
A large benefit to art club in high school is that it provides a place to go for art after school hours.
Ms. Caratelli agreed, "I love having the high school students be able to come in and have after hours time to work like after school."
Many students have been able to produce exceptional art from their time spent in art club even if they aren't completely dedicated to art club compared to others, an example of one of these people is senior Jeanne Jones. Her art is pictured to the right.
"(Art Club gets) between 5-10 (students) almost every Monday." one of the lead advisors of FHS Art Club, Mrs. Sara Nelson said.
Student involvement in other extra curricular activities seems to be one of the leading reasons students that want to go to art club can't. Mrs. Nelson agreed, "People get involved in plays, athletics and speech and debate," she said, "The beginning is usually really busy and a lot of times towards the end, we get a few more people."
Symphonic band travels to AA
Flathead High School Symphonic Band ended their first and final double A trip of the year on a strong note. The highest level band at FHS traveled to Great Falls on Sunday, March 3, to combine with Great Falls High School symphonic band for two very big concerts.
Every year in March, Symphonic band takes a trip out of town for the Double A festival concert. Double A is a three day trip where only the school's highest of bands, travels to combine with another school to put on a show for all to see. This year Flathead, C.M Russell, Great Falls, and Hellgate all traveled to Great Falls high School, where they rehearsed for seven and a half hours a day for two days with a College level conductor.
All bands were in a combined rehearsal with another school for a total of 14 hours. CMR was combined with Hellgate, and Flathead was combined with Great Falls. Each rehearsal had a conductor from another area Hellgate and CMR shared Dr. Devin Otto from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, director of Bands an Instructor of Tuba/Euphonium. FHS and CFHS shared Dr. Mark Fenderson, an Associate Professor of High Brass at Montana State University who also conducts the symphonic band. After rehearsals on the second day, each band performed their individual pieces they had been rehearsing for months before in the Great Falls High School auditorium.
"Mr. Fenderson worked well with our combined group," junior Morgan Neater said. "I liked how he changed up the piece to make it our own. I also liked how he made some analogies that helped us to understand our music, for example, he had us play notes that resembled colors such as, red, which meant angry, dark green, which meant majestic, or blue, which meant sad. He didn't necessarily tell us what we the colors meant but we all figured it out together and it came out really well. "
The trip for some was an opportunity to develop more skills with the instruments and was also a chance for other school to show off their skills to other band kids and parents.
"AA was great" senior Hailee Winter said. "It was an eye opener for a lot of new Symphonic kids, and it was a fun experience to see other schools play as well."
Not only was the opportunity to learn favored but so was being able to do other fun things such as swimming, shopping, and spending the night with friends at the hotel room.
"Outside of the rehearsals with GHFS spending time at the hotel was my favorite," junior Mallory Slaten said. "I loved the hot tub for sure, it was nice to get a chance to relax."
Prostart gets competitive
Culinary greeted the Bozeman State Competition with an appetite for success. The culinary team worked hard in order to compete in this years state
competition on Friday, March 8 held in Bozeman.
The Culinary team worked hard in class to develop the skills to win this year's state Prostart competition. The students were required to create their own menu, recipes, determine menu pricing, and photograph their plating. The rules of the competition consist of having 10 by 10 feet of work space, they are given one hour to complete a three course meal, with two fully identical plates for each course, all without the use of electricity or running water. They are allowed to use two butane burners (camp stove type.)
They also had the responsibility of creating an entire restaurant including a floor plan, menu design, marketing techniques, food costing, recipe development, food photography, full interior designs, full kitchen design, kitchen brigade organization chart, SWOT analysis, and sampler foods. One they have finished they were to stand 'Shark Tank' style in front of a team of chef judges, restaurant managers, and business professionals to market their restaurant design.
"The hardest part of the competition was communication," senior Samantha Brubaker said. "It's hard when you're under pressure it's hard to remember to tell your team what it is that you are doing."
This year, students were expected to make the following dishes; Rocky Mountain Salad with bacon, avocado, beets, carrots, homemade honey mustard vinaigrette, cheese, and yellow peppers. As well as, seared Venison steak with risotto, huckleberry reduction sauce, and shaved carrots. Finally, Huckleberry Trifle with lemon cake, whipped cream, rosemary, and fresh lemon juice. The goal of these dishes is to create a restaurant with comfortable seating, dimmed lights, and comfort food.
Dungeons and Dragons Club
ALEX BROWN & HANNAH MRISS
Every other Monday, the world of reality meets fantasy at Dungeons and Dragons club. Members meet in room 115 from 3:30 to 5:30. On Monday, February 11th, the club had so many in attendance that it had to expand into room 119.
The club is run by Cody Hoon, an avid player of sci-fi and fantasy games himself, "I grew up playing Magic the gathering". Said Hoon
"I've been playing that since 1995, so I've always been into fantasy". However, he has only been a player of Dungeons and Dragons for the past 5-6 years.
It isn't just any ordinary club either, it's something that requires its members to put time and effort in, not only during the clubs meetings, but outside of it as well, "It takes dedication in order to actually do this, you have to put time in, you have to show up. No one member should not come, because if you don't, your whole game could get shut down because you're living in a book". Said Hoon, "commitment is a big deal".
In order to even begin playing the game, there are several game manuals that explain the intricacies of the game. Junior Brendan Minaglia quoted, "The players handbook basically tells you all of the basics to dungeons and dragons". The players handbook is 128 pages. Minaglia recommended reading the book at least once before playing, then referencing it as the game carries on.
The game reflects a normal roleplaying game, however it goes far more in depth then a typical board game, "It works just like a classic RPG that you'd see in a [mainstream] game console".
This realm of fantasy extends far beyond just any typical roleplaying game. The game starts with the group of players selecting a Dungeon Master, whom is someone who ultimately runs the game. The selection is made when a student either steps up and volunteers himself or the other teammates recommend a well-rounded player. The game doesn't always immediately start after the Dungeon Master is assigned, "It often depends on the group" said Jacob Holcomb, a player in Minaglia's group. "Since my group was just learning to do this, we preempted our characters right before we got any case of campaign" More advanced players can jump straight into a campaign without much background, allowing the game to develop along the way.
Minaglia is also an avid player, and has been the dungeon master of a campaign for the past year. He enjoys being the Dungeon Master, because it allows him to take the game wherever without many hindrances.
When asked what their favorite part of the club was, a member responded with, "I think it's a good variety of people who are very energetic, a lot of them have jokes". Said Holcomb, "Generally the club removes the barriers that normal people have".
Flathead gets 8 National Qualifiers in Speech and Debate
Flathead finally made it to the Speech and Debate National Qualifiers tournament on the eighth and ninth of February.
After a hard fought season and a disappointing state tournament, FHS' Speech and Debate team finished strong up to the end with seven students making it to Nationals in Dallas, Texas.
FHS' eight national qualifiers include seniors Melissa Roybal and Annabelle Pukas, juniors Sarabeth Rogge, Savannah Metzler, Julia Wynne, Scott O'Donnell, and sophomores Eva Bruce and Carson Robison.
O'Donnell, Rogge and Robison were originally alternates but were moved up to national qualifying positions. Roybal, who has gone undefeated all the way through the season in legislative debate, went with domestic extemporaneous speaking at the national qualifiers competition. This form of extemporaneous speaking presents competitors with a choice of three questions related to national and international current events. Despite no longer being in legislative debate, Roybal still managed to qualify for nationals in her competing event.
Pukas won in her event, Lincoln-Douglas debate, a debate reminiscent of the presidential campaign between Abraham Lincoln and Stephan Douglas, has two students arguing for and against a resolution. Pukas has repeatedly scored points for FHS and has taken home first during the 2018 season. One of these moments included her winning in Bozeman, which is renowned to be one of the more difficult tournaments for FHS.
Rogge, originally a first alternate, was moved up to a national qualifier position. She placed in her event, original oratory. This type of speech event makes the competitor deliver a factual speech on a subject of their choosing. Rogge has consistently scored points for the team in original oratory, even making it on stage in fourth place at the Montana state tournament, which was hosted here at FHS.
Metzler qualified for nationals in her event, informative speaking. This event has competitors deliver an informative speech in 10 minutes. This allows for a large amount of creativity. Metzler has also scored heaps of points for FHS. One of these moments shined brightest when she managed second place at Corvallis in informative speaking.
Wynne has won in original oratory at every single event this season minus one time early in the season when she placed fourth that kept her from holding the title of undefeated for the entirety of the season. She continued her powerhouse trend into Billings where she successfully qualified for nationals. With her qualifying and Rogge being moved up, that makes two original oratory FHS students national qualifiers.
O'Donnell, like Rogge, was originally a first alternate but was moved up to a qualifying position later on. O'Donnell competed in domestic extemporaneous speaking with Roybal. O'Donnell has constantly proved himself by not only placing in one event, but two. O'Donnell, who is double entered, has made it onto the stage extremely often in both of his events. Even stemming into winning several times in both events. These occurrences met the eyes of schools such as Corvallis and Great Falls.
Bruce has been commended by her upperclassmen friends frequently throughout the season. All of them have placed theirbelief in her and rightfully so. In congressional debate, which is akin to legislative debate, it was exposed that her piers placed their faith in the right place when she qualified for nationals. This isn't Bruce's first time proving herself however, it is also unlikely it will be her last. She has scored many points for Flathead and has even placed first during the season in Lincoln-Douglas debate, which is usually her primary.
Robison, originally a second alternate, was moved up to national qualifier position in his event.
"POI (program oral interpretation) is an event where you have a common theme in your speech and you take a bunch of different genres of things to kind of like act out things relating to that theme. So you've got like newspaper articles, songs, books, plays, and you just take different pieces of them and act them out," Robison said.
Robison, like all other national qualifiers of FHS, has scored phenomenally throughout the season. Not only winning in his primary event but consistently placing in his other. His second event, original oratory, saw Robison in a fifth place at national qualifiers.
While this isn't the most qualifiers Flathead has received, all of them are powerhouses and have repeatedly proved themselves to be more then viable in terms of performance as well as spirit.
All school performance of the three musketeers
Flathead High School's theatre department directed the adventurous tale of the Three Musketeers in the black box theatre on Feb. 21-23.
The play begins with three musketeers, Athos, played by senior Dade Wendt, Porthos, played by senior Cameron price, and Aramis, played by Sean Struble, join with D'Artagnan, played by senior Edgar Hall, to try and stop the evil Cardinal Richelieu, played by senior Isaac Glace. For he wants to form an alliance with the enemy during this time, England. As if this wasn't enough happening, the play also included a "forbidden love" between D'Artagnan and Constance, played by sophomore Lydia Wood. Many FHS students thoroughly enjoyed the production because it had everything they wanted and more.
"I really enjoyed the show," senior Abigail Brooks said. "It was full of romance, adventure, and comedy which is what everyone wants in a show."
Senior Alix Major agreed as well.
"I only got to see part of the play from school performances, but I absolutely loved it," Major said. "I especially loved the scene where Cameron Price got hit with a fake bottle because the entire audience was so shocked. Then we all bursted out laughing."
The actors had an unforgettable experience with the production from rehearsing everyday after school, to being on stage with an audience.
"This was my first performance at FHS," Hall said. "The group of kids and directors took me in as if I had been in the program since freshman year. Personally, I loved the storyline of the play because it's filled with humor and cliche love scenes. Who doesn't love that."
Glace also had a very positive experience when it came to putting the show together.
"It was very fun, and relaxing to finally have a smaller, silly role," Glace said. "The eyeliner and mascara sure was a pain though."
From glass being broken over heads, to the clinging of cups, the FHS theatre department put on a great show for everyone to enjoy.
FFA takes first place
The Kalispell Future Farmers of America chapter took first place in the Agricultural Sales team event on Saturday, Jan. 19, at the western district competition in Great Falls.
All told, there were four different competitions at the district event in Great Falls: ag sales, meats evaluation and technology, agronomy, and livestock evaluation.
While the meats evaluation was technically the state competition, the other three events have their state competition in April in Bozeman. There are about 10 total career development events that FFA competes in throughout the year.
In the state meats evaluation and technology competition, the Kalispell squad took second place.
Three Glacier students made up the meats evaluation and technology team that took second place. But four other Flathead High School students placed in the top 25 in the competition: junior Shelby Olsen placed 14th, senior Amber Reiner placed 15th, sophomore Kyleigh Mitchell placed 24th, and senior Bethany Lyford placed 25th.
"My biggest challenge was the identification," Lyford said. "There were a lot of livers, tongues, and kidneys, they all look the same and we didn't study them very often in practice."
According to FFA.org, "Participants in the Meats Evaluation and Technology Career Development Event delve into the science of meat. During this team event, students evaluate beef carcasses for quality and yield grade; identify various meat cuts and place carcasses; and identify wholesale and/or retail cuts."
The Kalispell meats team is coached by Mr. Tucker Hankinson. Mr. Hankinson said he was very happy with a second place state finish to the Missoula team that has a devoted class for the competition.
"We are only able to practice for after school," Mr. Hankinson said.
The Ag Sales team had the best day at the entire competition, placing first at the district level. Even though Kalispell had no top ten individual finishers, the team was able to rake in 759 points for the win. Senior Mabry Shepard placed 14th overall and first on the Kalispell team. Three students from Glacier High School composed the other three quarters of the team.
"Lots of practice in the classroom and in everyday life helped contribute to my success," Shepard said. "I work at Western Outdoor so it's easy to apply what I learn at work to the competition."
The sales team's project is selling utility and gooseneck trailers. The Kalispell team is under the direction of Ms. Kaitlin Trutzel, a first-year teacher at the H.E. Robinson Vo-Ag Education Center.
According to FFA.org, "Students competing in the Agricultural Sales Career Development Event gain experience and skills essential to the production and marketing of agricultural products. The team event illustrates related careers and offers a firsthand look at developing product knowledge and driving sales. Each team in the Agricultural Sales CDE consists of four students with each person's effort contributing to the team's final score. Teams are provided a example product, product information and customer profiles at the start of the event from which they collaboratively develop a sales plan. Judges then evaluate the collaboration process and the team's final sales plan. Individuals also complete a written exam that tests sales concept knowledge."
The Kalispell chapter of the FFA is a perennial powerhouse in Montana, consistently placing in the top three in every event. The program has been recognized at the national level, receiving a national chapter award 74 times since 1942, missing the award only in 1972, 1978, and 1988.
Overall, the FFA program "develops members' potential and helps them discover their talent through hands-on experiences, which give members the tools to achieve real-world success. It is a dynamic youth organization that changes lives and prepares members for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. Members are future chemists, veterinarians, government officials, entrepreneurs, bankers, international business leaders, teachers and premier professionals in many career fields."
Shinn wins regional Poetry Out Loud
Freshman Isabella Shinn placed first at the Northwest Montana Regional Poetry Out Loud competition on Friday, Feb. 8, at Flathead Valley Community College to advance to the state competition in Helena on March 2.
Senior Anna Hedinger, who was the Montana state champion last year, placed second at the regional and will be advancing to state, as well. Junior Derrick Neater placed third and is considered an alternate for the state completion, if Shinn or Hedinger can't go.
"I'm excited, nervous, I haven't really thought that deep into it so I'm not that nervous yet," said Shinn.
At state, the students will recite one poem that is 25 lines or fewer, and another poem from the pre-20th century, and one free choice poem.
"Students select two poems from the Poetry Out Loud website to memorize and are judged on physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, overall performance, and accuracy," FHS English teacher and Poetry Out Loud adviser Mrs. Allison Kreiss said.
Shinn's poem of choice is about the sinking of the Titanic. Hedinger's poem of choice is about violence in inner-city life.
Twelve FHS students participated in the school-wide poetry out loud competition on Jan. 31. Six students advanced to the northwest Montana regional competition on February 8th. The six who advanced to the regional were Hedinger, junior Shaylee Emerson, junior Hadasa Wagoner, Neater, junior Aria Scovel, and.
The state competition takes place at the Grand Street Theatre in Helena on March 2nd. They will recite one poem that is 25 lines or fewer, one poem from the pre-20th century, and one free choice poem.
The Montana state champion will advance to Nationals in Washington D.C. on April 30. Hedinger was the state champion last year and is advancing to the state competition this year.
"Im less concerned about winning as much as having fun because it's actually really fun by itself," said Hedinger. "I'm excited about having a good audience."
Students enjoy International Culture
About 20 Flathead High School students have been participating in the International Culture Club during its monthly meetings at various places around the school.
International Culture Club is a club for Flathead students to learn about different cultures in a friendly and fun way. Students in the club pick a certain country every month and learn about it through dinners, dances, and activities. The club also works with foreign exchange students to get an inside look on different cultures.
"It's kind of stressful running it because I do a lot of work, but I really like when it all pulls together," junior Rhianyon Larson said. "When we can work with the foreign exchange students and work with the different clubs like Asian Culture Club and the French Club, it is so rewarding to see everyone there having fun. The goal is to learn about these different cultures in a fun way, and to pull different types of crowds together and have a good time while at the same time we are learning."
Some students love the club because of the food.
"It's a time to hang out, try new foods, dance, make things, meet new people, and learn about new cultures you haven't been interested before," junior Natasha Gesker said. "My favorite thing about it is the different kinds of food."
Others students like the unique activities.
"There was a lot of people that went to the Day of the Dead month meeting, and it was pretty fun and had good energy," junior Barret Fox Said.
Speech & Debate team takes 2nd at state, Roybal goes undefeated for entire season
Five points… In a shootout that witnessed first and second place score a combined 339 points, only five points separated the top two team placings.
Seniors Melissa Roybal and Reed Miller, juniors John Shelton and Julia Wynne, and sophomore Carson Robison each won state championships in their events to help lead the Flathead High School Speech and Debate team to a second-place finish on Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Class AA State Tournament at FHS.
FHS earned a whopping 167 points at the tourney, which would have been good enough for the state championship any other year, but lost 172.5-167 to Glacier. Perennial powerhouse Bozeman placed third with 109.5 points.
All told, Robison tallied 18 points for the team with his state title in program oral interpretation and second-place finish in in original oratory. Shelton scored 16 points for the team with his impromptu speaking championship and informative speaking third place. Miller also scored 16 of the team's points with his title in extemporaneous speaking and third place in impromptu. Wynne earned 13 points for the team with an original oratory state championship and sixth-place finish in informative speaking. Roybal contributed 10 points with her legislative debate title. Junior Scott O'Donnell netted 10 points, as well, with a second place in impromptu and seventh place in extemp. Those six individuals accounted for 83 of the team's 167 points, basically half.
Competition was so close at the tournament that Flathead endured 12 ties while trying to advance competitors into outrounds (semifinals and finals) and won only one of those ties. Meaning, going 1-for-12 in ties, any one of those 11 tieouts would have scored points for the team. Those were hard pills to swallow for the team, and more heartbreakers occurred when three powerhouse individuals didn't even advance into semifinals because of freak circumstances.
That's not to say that Flathead left with a bad taste in its mouth, in total. Flathead still managed to achieve five state champions, four runners up, and another four third placers.
Robison, O'Donnell, sophomore Eva Bruce, and freshman Anna Christiansen all earned silver medals in their events. While Miller, Shelton, senior Annebelle Pukas, and the duo of seniors Alix Major and Korbyn Howe each won bronze medals.
In program oral interpretation, Robison earned a state championship and was a pride award winner of the season. He also placed second in his other event, original oratory, an event where the competitor delivers a factual speech on a subject of their choosing.
"POI is an event where you have a common theme in your speech and you take a bunch of different genres of things to kind of like act out things relating to that theme," Robison said. "So you've got like newspaper articles, songs, books, plays, and you just take different pieces of them and act them out. [My speech] is on school shootings. So I focus a lot on Columbine and reenacting the event itself, the perspective of the shooters and the students."
Shelton's title came in impromptu speaking, where competitors are given a quote or political cartoon and have only three minutes to prep a 3-5 minute speech. His third-place was in informative speaking, on a very funny speech about a controversial quack doctor in the early 1900s that made a lot of money by trying to cure male impotence through surgery using goat glands.
"The quotation was 'A Snowflake never expects to be in an avalanche' and it was really quite a stupid quote but I felt really good about the speech I gave," Shelton said. "I changed it to [mean] teamwork."
Miller also ended his career with a state championship, in extemporaneous speaking while placing third in impromptu speaking. Both of Miller's events are within the short prep squad, where competitors don't memorize speeches. Instead, in extemp they are given a current event question and have 30 minutes to prep a 5-7 minute speech.
"It (winning state) was very exciting," Miller said. "I've been working at this for four years and I was very surprised to be honest. I'd always wanted to be a state champion, but I didn't think it would happen and then it did."
In legislative debate, Roybal won at every single tournament this year. Legislative debate is where competitors draft bills and resolutions and argue for and against them in a mock congress environment. She was also a pride award winner of the 2018-2019 season.
"I have been involved in speech and debate for four years and I mean, the success definitely wasn't an overnight thing," Roybal said. "Obviously it's super exciting to see that it does pay off in the end."
Wynne has only lost first place once throughout the entire season in original oratory, meaning she nearly made it with Roybal as an undefeated state champion. Wynne's speech covered the beauty bias that many people suffer from in society.
"Society favors those who look attractive… and discriminate against those who are less attractive," Wynne said.
The season is actually continuing for a large number of Flathead speech and debate competitors with the national qualifying tournament in Billings in two weekends. Winners there will advance to nationals in Dallas in June. The FHS program, under head coach Mrs. Shannon O'Donnell, is ranked in the nation's top 100.
After the conclusion of the tournament, the Flathead team gathered for a last hurrah before national qualifiers. The seniors gave their final, touching speeches in front of their team. "It was a great team to be a part of, even though we did take second I think that's nowhere near indicative of our skill as a team," Shelton said.
All of the competitors in the state team brought something to the table; they will either leave speech and debate knowing it or return and bring something even greater.
One last time, in extemporaneous speaking the competitors include, senior Reed Miller and junior Scott O'Donnell.
In Impromptu, FHS competitors consisted of senior Reed Miller, juniors Samantha Wallace, John Shelton and Julia Wynne.
In informative speaking, FHS brought juniors Bohdi Hollman, Savannah Metzler, John Shelton and Julia Wynne to state.
In memorized public address, Flathead had seniors Tanis Hadwin, Korbyn Howe and Giles Jochim as well as sophomore Anna Christiansen.
In original oratory, Flathead competitors, senior Emma Thompson, juniors Julia Wynne and Sarabeth Rogge who achieved fourth place on stage, and sophomore Carson Robison in second place.
Flathead's state competitors in program oral interpretation all made it on stage. Junior Aria Scovel in seventh place, sophomore Carson Robison in first place and freshman James Francis in fifth place. Francis also won a pride award this season.
In dramatic interpretation, Flathead had senior Toby or Tobias Diegel managing fourth place.
In duo interpretation, Flathead brought two teams to state. The first team consisted of seniors Alix Major and Korbyn Howe. The second team was made up of senior Tanis Hadwin and junior Jonah Love.
Senior Alix Major, junior Jonah Love and freshman James Francis made up Flathead's humorous interpretation team.
Flathead brought one public forum team to state, this team consisted of senior Ryan Vosen and freshman Jillian Wynne
Flathead's state competitors in legislative debate included senior Melissa Roybal, junior Kianna Storm and sophomores Alan Taylor and Kelvin Dixon. Taylor and Dixon both earned pride awards throughout the season.
Flathead brought two policy debate teams to state. The first team consisted of junior Lucas Coulter and sophomore Braden Anderson. Junior Isiah Owens and sophomore Daniel Edelen made up the second team.
In Flathead's Lincoln-Douglas debate team, there were seniors Sierra Dilworth and Annabelle Pukas as well as sophomore Eva Bruce.
Flathead wins Great Falls, Roybal goes undefeated for all preliminary tournaments this season
Many Flathead students doubted a victory at Great Falls on the 11th and 12th of January. Despite being put against all odds, they managed to achieve first place at Great Falls in an out of nowhere twist although it was certainly not by a landslide. Flathead at 151 points beat Glacier at 142.5 points making the gap between them a mere 8.5 points. Bozeman managed third place with 105 points. This win secured many of the Flathead attendees a spot at state. Keep in mind that if even one of the following students didn't manage first place in their event at Great Falls the win would've been given to Glacier.
Junior Julia Wynne once again pulled first place in one of her two events, original oratory. As stated, her speech covers the beauty bias of the public and how people treat more beautiful people better than the more physically disadvantaged. Wynne also managed fourth place in informative speaking. Wynne only lost one tournament this season, she's been first in original oratory every other time nearly giving Flathead two undefeated students.
Senior Korbyn Howe also managed first place in one of his two events, MPA, or memorized public address. "You take a public address…you memorize it. A public address is pretty open ended. Pretty much anything that's spoken publicly… Most often they're Ted Talks. Mine was a Ted Talk," Howe said. Howe's partner in his second event, Duo Interpretation, senior Alix Major, placed third in humorous interpretation.
In impromptu speaking, junior Scott O'Donnell made first place once again. O'Donnell being double entered, also made it onto the extemporaneous stage by placing sixth in extemporaneous speaking.
Junior Jonah Love won in one of his two events, humorous interpretation and his other event being duo interpretation with senior Tanis Hadwin. Their speech in duo is based on Stephen King's It.
Sophomore Carson Robison also won in his event, program oral interpretation, or more commonly referred to as POI. His speech is on the tragedy of Columbine and other school shootings. His speech has earned him first place repeatedly throughout the Speech and Debate season.
In Legislative debate, senior Melissa Roybal placed first again at Great Falls. This secures that Roybal has placed first place in legislative debate in every single preliminary tournament this year. "I have been involved in Speech and Debate for four years and I mean, the success definitely wasn't an overnight thing. Obviously it's super exciting to see that it does pay off in the end," Roybal said. She plans on continuing the first place trend she's set this year to state.
Students experience hands on learning
The Trades Event held at Flathead Valley Community College was a huge learning break through for many Flathead High School students. Students at FHS that currently have a hands on class such as auto mechanics, wood shop, and welding were all invited to learn how to weld and build. The event was hosted by FHS retired principal Mr. Peter Fusaro. The students were school sponsored on Dec. 9 to enjoy this learning experience.
Students had a way of finding what they loved most out of this trip while also gaining learning experiences in new fields.
"My favorite part of the trip was when we went to the welding shop and got to weld," senior Melissa Guillen said. "We had to weld straight lines into a metal plate. I only found welding hard because I always mess up using the Mig, but that day my welds were good. It was also really hot while welding too."
Most students don't plan on using welding, wood shop, or manufacturing in their future plans but the learning experience was memorable and will stick with them for years to come
"Based off of the two places I went I would have to say the manufacturing part of it." "our teacher put us in a position that we would most definitely fail in, then put us in a position where we would succeed and the difference was insane. I don't plan on using manufacturing in my future plans."
Flathead's Original Oratory owns stage at Corvallis
Flathead's Speech and Debate team continues to win tournaments across western Montana. Without an end in sight, Flathead won at a whopping 263 points at Corvallis on the 5th and 6th of January with the nearest AA school being Hellgate, which earned 103 points. That gave Flathead a 160-point gap between them and second place. The only other AA schools at Corvallis were Sentinel High with 63 points and Helena High with 38 points.
Flathead's Original Oratory team owned the stage in their event with six out of eight possible places being occupied by them. All of the Flathead Original Oratory students placed. For clarification, original oratory is a factual and original speech on a subject of a competitors choosing done in 10 minutes or less. In 6th place was sophomore Anna Christensen, in 5th place was junior Sarabeth Rogge, in 4th place was sophomore Colter Giradot, in 3rd was sophomore Carson Robison, 2nd was senior Emma Thompson and in 1st place was junior Julia Wynne.
Wynne's piece went over the beauty bias of the public and how physically disadvantaged people suffer more than most. Her perfection of this speech has earned her the 1st place award in original oratory repeatedly throughout the season.
On the debate side, every Flathead Lincoln-Douglas debater made it onto the stage. Lincoln-Douglas debate, named after the senate race between Abraham Lincoln and Stephan Douglas, is a debate involving two debaters arguing for and against a resolution. In 7th place was senior Annabelle Pukas, in 5th was sophomore Eva Bruce, in 3rd was sophomore Alan Taylor and in 1st place was senior Sierra Dilworth.
Dilworth spoke about how the entirety of the Lincoln-Douglas debate team made it onto the stage, "It was amazing. Especially Alan Taylor who got third which is the best he's ever done which was really exciting for our whole team." Despite winning, Dilworth expressed some disappointment, "In finals I went against a pretty good friend of mine, Maya from Hellgate. She's really an amazing debater… I definitely thought she won… Maya has never been in a finals round before so this was her first time and since we're really good friends I really wanted her to win because I've had my share of doing well. However I was also obviously excited to have won. It was a mixed bag of feelings."
Junior Bohdi Hollman won in his respective event, informative speaking is an event that allows the performer 10 minutes to talk about anything with the addition of props and other visual aids. "My speech is on augmented humanity, so basically technological enhancements to the human body." Hollman said. This is his first win of the season. He described the feeling of getting first, "It's like a feeling of relief knowing that you put a lot of work into that tournament alone and you can finally relax. You can feel accomplished."
Junior Scott O'Donnell had an eventful tournament as he won in Impromptu and managed second in Extemporaneous in a tiebreaker. For Impromptu, O'Donnell didn't think he would manage any high place let alone 1st. "The judges gave us absolutely nothing during the round so we had no idea if they liked what we were saying at all. As well as I misinterpreted the cartoon and just made up a definition. One of the judges called me out on making up a definition but I got lucky and they liked it so I was still able to get away with it." Extemporaneous speaking limits the competitors to a 30 minute period of time to create a speech and then present it in seven minutes. Impromptu is along the lines of extemporaneous speaking except for a shortened period of time to prepare the speech, that time being 7 minutes rather than 30.
Junior Jonah Love won in two events at Corvallis. He won in Duo Interpretation, which is an event based on a published play or story. Love and his partner, senior Tanis Hadwin created an extremely unusual performance on the book inspired movie, It. "A lot of people gave us some funny looks when we told them that. It's not your average duo," Hadwin said. "There tend to be certain pieces that people just fall back on. There are a lot of short plays people do or there are publishing companies that publish scripts specifically for 10-minute performances, which are pretty common as well. If you do use movies, you tend to not go to the horror variety." This is their first time winning with It and it likely won't be their last. Love also won in humorous interpretation, an event that tests a student's comedic skills in a performance up to 10 minutes long.
The final placer at Corvallis, sophomore Carson Robison, won in one of his two events, program oral interpretation and made 3rd in original oratory. "POI (program oral interpretation) is an event where you have a common theme in your speech and you take a bunch of different genres of things to kind of like act out things relating to that theme. So you've got like newspaper articles, songs, books, plays, and you just take different pieces of them and act them out," Robison said. "[My speech] is on school shootings. So I focus a lot on columbine and reenacting the event itself, the perspective of the shooters and the students," he added. As stated, Robison was also one of the many Flathead students that went on stage in original oratory.
Flathead Speech and Debate makes history at Helena competes at Bozeman
Bozeman is famously known as the biggest tournament in Montana beat out only by state AA itself. Overall, Flathead achieved third place at 129 total sweepstakes points. Glacier got second place with 156.5 and Bozeman earned the first place award again with a whopping 191.5 total sweepstakes points, beating Flathead by 63.5 points.
Senior Melissa Roybal struck another first place in legislative debate winning Flathead 10 of their sweepstakes points. Legislative debate or commonly known as "legi" is a debate where competitors draft bills and resolutions and argue for and against them.
Senior Reed Miller also won in his event in extemporaneous speaking. More commonly referred to as "Extemp" or "Impromptu", this event limits the competitors to a 30 minute period of time to create a speech and then present it in seven minutes. He earned 10 sweepstakes points to Flatheads total of 129.
Senior Annabelle Pukas made first in Lincoln-Douglas debate, named after the senate race between Abraham Lincoln and Stephan Douglas, is a debate involving two debaters arguing for and against a resolution.
Flathead still managed to reclaim their spot on top in the next event in Helena.
Things were looking bleak for the Flathead Speech and Debate team after being beat by Glacier and Bozeman at the tournament in Bozeman. However, they managed to turn the stress into more fuel for that Flathead Pride and took first place at the following tournament at Helena.
There were seven total braves and bravettes that managed to get first place at Helena, one of whom made first place twice.
Senior Melissa Roybal once again managed to get first place in her event, legislative debate. She has consistently dominated legislative debate and achieved first place in every single tournament she's attended. She has proven herself to be vital to Flathead's success.
Senior Korbyn Howe is double entered, meaning that he is in two events. Howe pulled off new first places at Helena. His first event, Duo Interpretation, involves a pair of performers acting out a literary piece or program under certain restraints, including not making eye contact with and touching your partner, and no props. They can use various things like books, movies, shows, etc. to express their theme. They can choose to be humorous or dramatic.
Howe and senior Alix Major both won in Duo Interp at Helena. He described his reaction to getting first with Alix, "I was kind of trying to contain the feeling, but I knew I couldn't. When they called second place and it wasn't us, I just mentally snapped and like, I don't cry, so in my head I started crying."
Howe also won MPA, also known as Memorize Public Address. According to him, "You take a public address…you memorize it. A public address is pretty open ended. Pretty much anything that's spoken publicly… Most often they're Ted Talks. Mine was a Ted Talk."
Junior Julia Wynne also won in her respective event, Oral Interpretation. Oral interp is a factual and original speech on a subject of a competitors choosing done in 10 minutes or less. Wynne also placed 4th in Informative Speaking. Like Roybal, Wynne has consisted hit first place in her events.
Senior Sierra Dilworth was amongst the first placers at Helena. She garnered 15 sweepstakes points to Flathead. She has been patiently waiting for a first place but has never failed to encourage other Flathead Varsity Lincoln-Douglas debaters like senior Annabelle Pukas who has scored first repeatedly and sophomore Eva Bruce who also managed first place this year.
For Varsity Policy Debate, a debate where teams of two advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government, junior Lucas Coulter and sophomore Braden Anderson took their first victory ever. Anderson transferred over from Bigfork last year where him and Coulter first met. "The first day I met him I thought he was just some goofy kid… We pretty much clicked right off the bat. Our personalities definitely compliment each other," Coulter said.
It's also important to note that Anderson and Coulter went undefeated into quarterfinals at Bozeman with a 6-1 score.
Crosstown Art Trek Trip to Portland
Students from both Flathead and Glacier that are involved in the art department, with a passionate interests in art traveled to Portland Oregon with Flathead's art teachers, Kristie Caratelli, Josh Mohler, and Cody Hoon on Wednesday November 28, and arrived back into Kalispell on Saturday night December 1.
The trips first destination being thirty minutes just outside of Portland, at Multnomah Falls a 611 foot tall waterfall, where students got to explore the trails and enjoy the waterfall up close.
On Thursday morning students had the opportunity to tour the Portland State Art Department where they were able to walk through studios, and classrooms, as well as walk through some of the student galleries. This gave some students a potential school to take into consideration as well as gain more knowledge on the types of scholarships they offer, and discussed the application process.
"It was an amazing experience being able to walk through the three and fourth year students' studios, and get a feel for what college art is really like," said senior Toby Diegel.
In the remainder of thursday afternoon students and the art teachers explored the Portland Art Museum, studying the positioning and lighting of each piece as well as how the artwork was separated based on the artist's use of mediums, and style of work.
Students were able to study and admire the cultural backgrounds of the artwork and their artists, this artwork included, photography, abstract, modern and contemporary, cultural, graphic and silver art.
"This was the second year that I've had the privilege of going on this trip, and it is really humbling to be trusted with the time and freedom that we get. It is unlike any school trip that I've ever been part of, and I've done a lot. It's an environment that fosters creativity which is truly cherished," said senior Hailey Allen.
On the thursday evening both schools attended the Alberta Rose Theatre to watch the "White Album Xmas" performance. A Bohemian style circus performance which included acrobats and lasso-twirling cowboys as well as The Nowhere Band who covered versions of the Beatles White Album.
On Friday morning November 30, students and the teachers visited the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry where they were taken on a tour, and explored the exhibits as well as visited the King Tut Exhibit. Following into the afternoon, the last stop of the trip students visited the Bullseye Glass Company, for Art and Architecture in Portland, Oregon. Students were given a tour and were able to witness first hand the process of how glass is made, as well as view the spaces they store the glass, what they do with excess pieces, and glass artwork.
FHS band brings Christmas cheer
90 students participated in the FHS Band Concert in the Flathead auditorium directed by David Johnke on Dec 6.
Students all a part of one of the four classes: Braves Band that includes mostly freshman, Concert band which has mostly sophomores, Symphonic Band with a mix of sophomores, juniors and seniors, and a Percussion that can include grades 9-12.
Students and audience believed it has been the most successful concert yet since the past couple years with the new director and believe it will continue being a great success.
"We've shown improvement over the last few years with the new director." Said the flute section leader of symphonic band, Anna Schultz. "Because the audience was fuller than it usually is."
Senior Hunter Shayenne agreed saying "We didn't have a ton of time to prepare for it. It was about a month for most pieces, some songs we had a week to several days to prepare. However for time we did have, it went better than expected."
Mr. David Johnke believed that it was the best holiday band concert that he has conducted since joining FHS two years ago.
Although there were some minor problems that occurred at the concert, students were able to divert them from the distractions and keep playing. For instance, at the beginning of the concert when the flute choir was performing, some of the lights hung on the balcony of the auditorium fell from their places.
Freshman Anita Shevtosva said it was the second time the lights had fallen when the flute choir was performing. The first time when they fell was before the concert had even begun.
Not all of the students who were performing in the flute choir had noticed that the lights had fell. Shultz said that she didn't even realize they had fell because she was blocking out all possible distractions from the audience and focused on the songs they tried to play.
However some students were more worried for the audience when the lights had fallen.
"I was really hoping none of the pins fell on the people in the audience, but luckily the lights were only taped," said freshman Tatyana Kigilyuk, a member of the flute choir and concert band. "I thought that maybe all the lights will fall off by the end of the concert."
Even with all the mishaps that had occurred in the concert, students and parents thought it was a great success.
"My host family usually never goes to concerts but they started coming this year and they have really enjoyed it," said junior flutist, Anna Pilotti.
FHS theatre Acting 2 performs the chilling Snow Queen
Flathead High School's theatre department performed the magical tale of The Snow Queen in the black box theatre on Dec. 4-5.
Elizabeth Sykora held a deep appreciation for this tale since she was a kid, so it was only fitting that the Acting 2 class performed it.
"It is definitely one of those "save from the fire" items, Sykora said. "In fact, early on this process, I read my copy of this story to my Acting 2 cast. It was very special to share my childhood with them."
This chilling tale was about two young best friends, Kai and Gerda, played by Domminik Griffith and Jade Dickerson, who are absolutely inseparable. Gerda's grandmother, Oma, played by junior Kirya Henderson, tells them the story of the bitter Snow Queen and her magic mirror. The mirror, which is created by the Snow Queen, played by freshman Tanah Jakeway, shows only the negative side of people and things in the world. One day the mirror breaks and it falls upon the earth, getting in peoples eyes distorting their view on all the good things in the world. A piece of the mirror just so happened to fall into Kai's eye, and he turned very cold towards all the people that love him. The Snow Queen then takes Kai, and it is up to Gerda to find him and save him from the curse of the mirror.
The enchanting set had beautiful light cues and a glistening winter palace, with a spiral staircase.
"I liked the set because I thought when you looked at it under the blue lights, it made you feel cold," junior Dalton Brubaker, who played the reindeer said.
The actors were able to get even closer through the process of this production, creating many new friendships and memories.
"Being a part of the play was the best," Henderson said. "It was a great experience to meet new people and see the new talent in the classroom."
Though the actors had some trouble with memorizing their lines, they pulled it all together in the end.
"The cast was not too in sync in the beginning, but we came out to be quite a crew during the performances," senior Cameron Price, who played the Finnish man said.
The audience especially enjoyed the performances because of how it not only appealed to the older audience, but the younger kids as well.
"I thought the actors did really well because they brought even more magic into the black box theatre," senior Tiel Nelson said. "It was even cuter when the little kids really got into the show because they were so enchanted by the set."
FHS Orchestra Opens the Auditorium for Holiday Concerts.
About 50 Flathead High School orchestra members struggled a little, but managed to pull it together for a successful Caroling, Caroling Through The Snow holiday concert on Monday, Dec. 3, in the FHS auditorium.
Both Chamber (higher level) and Concert (lower level) orchestras performed a combined six pieces, directed by Ms. Sherry Simmons. The theme displayed throughout the concert was caroling. Students performed known carols such as "Good King Wenceslas" to older carols such as "See Amid the Winter's Snow".
Ms. Simmons said that most of the concert's pieces were chosen by the students of the chamber orchestra with little weight of her own opinion. Students browsed for songs on their own time and discussed of the options in class. As songs were being chosen, a common theme began to develop of varieties of caroling songs.
There were some struggles on the way of polishing the songs for the concert but the students managed to pull it together no matter what went wrong at the concert.
"My mind kind of went blank in one of the songs," said Kelby Abel, who was the section leader for cellos in chamber orchestra.
Another major blip that occurred in the concert was that they had to restart one of their songs titles "Angeli, Alleluia" arranged by Janice and Eric McAllister. Some students said that they took off too fast while others were playing to slowly.
"I waited for a couple measures to see if you guys would pull it together but that didn't happen," said Ms. Simmons. "So I knew we needed to restart the piece and hope that we would get it on the second time."
Several of the students after the concert were told that they were confused with why they had to restart the piece.
"I thought it was funny how people in the audience were confused when we restarted," said Alla Kigilyuk, a member of the chamber orchestra. Her reasoning was since students knew the piece was off to a bad start, the audience probably followed with what had occurred.
"Some people thought that we were just warming up [for the piece]," junior bass player Maria Bay said.
Because the students were aware of their mistake and the song restarting again, not all of the parents and people in the audience had understood what had happened. Even though mistakes happened, the orchestra managed to pull the concert together.
"It was pretty good for the fact that we had only three and a half weeks to prepare," said viola section leader of the chamber orchestra David Marburger.
After hearing recordings of the concert, students of the chamber orchestra class thought the concert sounded better when they listened to it than what it sounded like on stage.
"Listening to the concert was better than being on stage," senior violinist Sheridan Stoop said.
Overall the concert was a great opener for the holiday concerts even with the errors that had occurred in the concert.
Food drive gets students excited to donate
Over 1900 cans and packages of food were donated this year for the annual Flathead High School food drive. The food drive took place this month with judging that started on Tuesday, December 11th. Students in their second period class began bringing in nonperishable food items early this month to kick off the drive. Donated food items were arranged into structures by classmates in order to be judged by student council members.
"It's a tradition at Flathead" said senior student council member Hailey Allen. "This year we wanted to get people more excited, so in your second period class you bring in any nonperishable food items and construct them into sculptures to be judged."
Mrs. Hodges' second period French class won the award for most cans donated while Mrs. Ortley's earth science class took first place for best canstruction.
"We put a lot of effort into it and thought outside of the box" said sophomore Marisal Jennings. Jennings came up with the idea behind the winning can sculpture, "I thought about a volcano because we were learning about rocks".
The winning class built a volcano using the cans that they donated. Classes that did not construct anything were not judged and their donations were collected and displayed in the commons. When the sculptures were finished being judged, they were collected and loaded onto a truck that dispersed it throughout the Flathead Valley and to the Flathead Food Bank. Flathead residents took what they needed from the donated food.
FCCLA Meets District
Family, Career, Community, Leaders of America held a district meeting, in Missoula, to discuss leading problems in Montana and to get to know each district better on Nov. 7.
"It was a friendly meeting between districts," said Kate Smith. "We played Kahoot to study the FCCLA module then after that we played Kahoot with Disney princesses."
FCCLA is a club made up of different activates such as sewing and cooking. It's an opportunity to help the community, get involved with Flathead High School, and to make new friends.
"I think people should join FCCLA because it's a lot of fun and you get to meet new people," said Smith. "You get to help your community and care for it. For example, at the districts meeting we talked about how big of a concern the suicide rates are in Montana, and how it's the most common form of death for middle schooler's, which I thought was shocking."
Five win 1st Annual Lip Sync Battle
Rece O'Connell, Nikki Thatcher, Lydia Wood, Emme Schow, Dalton Brubaker, Chase Ammirata, and the girls basketball team all walked away winners after the first annual FHS Theatre Lip Sync Competition on Tuesday, Nov. 6, in the Black Box Theatre.
There was a total of 15 entrants in the competition, about six less entrants than the previous year, which raised a total over $500 for Flathead's Theatre department. The girls basketball team won $50 in cash prize in the Team/Club/Activity category, and juniors Emme Schow and Dalton Brubaker won $30 for Best in Show. Each of the other winners came away with $15 in prize money for three other categories.
Thatcher and Wood lip synced "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor and won the Outstanding Choreography category.
"We did it last year," Wood said. "It was a lot of fun performing and seeing everyone else perform."
Schow and Brubaker won Best in Show for their performance of "On the Right Track" from Pippin the Musical. "Dalton and I had a lot of fun putting it together," Schow said.
Ammirata was the winner of Most Humorous Song of "Proud Mary" by Tina Turner.
He said he felt very nervous before performing his number, but turned it into a great success.
"It was hilarious and a fan favorite," said Isaac Glace.
The girls basketball team won Best Team/Club/Activity with their show of "In My Feelings" by Drake.
Brubaker said it was amazing that the girls basketball team decided to compete in the show again this year.
O'Connell won the Best Audience Interaction category with his rendition of "Sick of It" by Skillet.
The event was a way to open the doors of the theatre department to students of the school. Students could enter with a song of their choice and come up with a choreograph to the song and perform it. Judges included teachers and students of the Flathead high school. They were seniors Sebastian Koch, Reed Miller, and Shaye Thompson. Teachers and staff judges were Jimmy Dragon, Cody Hoon, and Patty Hodges.
"It was a great fundraiser and a really cool way to open up theatre and what they can do," Miller said.
Although the event was open to all students, there was a misunderstanding of who was allowed to enter into the competition. Many students believed that the competition was only for students of the theatre department making it difficult to create a program for the show.
"It's just a shame that only one outside of the theatre group joined the competition," said Glace, who was master of ceremonies.
The show organizers were challenged with setting up the program.
"It was a stressful couple hours before the show because we had to rewrite everything in the script," said Brubaker, who was the second MC. "People were rejoining and leaving and then rejoining again. We just had to rewrite the whole entire thing to figure out new jokes. There were some people who joined the day before and like a couple hours before we would go on stage."
With the several hours of difficulty, the crew managed to pull together a script and open the show with great success.
Many students in the show said they did some things for the first time.
"It was my first time directing anything," said Schow, who was director of several choreographing numbers. "It was a lot of fun and stressful six days to put it together. I got eleven kids together and they were all who have never danced before and then teach three kids how to floss."
Schow said that it was a great experience and is preparing more numbers for the next years competition.
Flathead S&D wins kickoff, Missoula Invite
Junior Julia Wynne, sophomore Carson Robison, senior Melissa Roybal, and sophomore Eva Bruce all placed first in their events at the Kalispell Kickoff Speech and Debate Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 3, to help lead Flathead High School to a team victory.
It was the first event of the season. The speech portion of the tourney was held at Flathead High School while debate was at Glacier High School. Flathead is actually hosting the state tournament this year towards the end of January, and the team has high hopes of raising a state championship banner.
Wynne won original oratory and placed fourth in informative speaking. Robison won program oral interpretation and placed fourth in original oratory. Roybal won legislative debate. Bruce won varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate.
Wynne's speech in original oratory, which is a factual and original speech on a subject of a competitors choosing done in 10 minutes or less, was based around a beauty bias in society. "Society favors those who look attractive… and discrimination against those who are less attractive," Wynne said.
Sophomore Eva Bruce also placed first in Lincoln-Douglas debate. Lincoln-Douglas debate, named after the senate race between Abraham Lincoln and Stephan Douglas, is a debate involving two debaters arguing for and against a resolution. "Eva is a very good debater and a very good competitor. You never know what she's going to throw at you." Senior Sierra Dilworth, a defending state champion and second placer at Kickoff's Lincoln-Douglas debate said. "Last year I was Eva's mentor and… going against her was just so fulfilling because all the work that she's put in and all the work that me and the coaches have put in had obviously paid off so I was really happy to see Eva win."
Another sophomore first placer at the Kick-off was Carson Robison. Robison's event, program oral interpretation is a 10-minute speech that can include drama, poetry, music lyrics, prose, books and much more to express a topic. Robison's topic was based around school shootings, primarily Columbine. "It (speech) talks about how Columbine played out and how it affects us now… it also really focuses on how the kids lived through Columbine using documents from the shooters and the kids themselves.
Senior Melissa Roybal achieved first place in legislative debate. Legislative debate or commonly known as "legi" is a debate where competitors draft bills and resolutions and argue for and against them.
All Flathead Speech and Debate students assisted in the first Flathead kickoff victory in 4 years, allowing the seniors for this year to finally claim that they witnessed Flathead win before they take their leave.


"Quality Improvement Project: Improving intake forms to make them more " by Jennifer Brescoll Mancuso, Lauren M. Madigan et al.
Mancuso J, Madigan LM, Kerr H, Rambhatla P. Quality Improvement Project: Improving intake forms to make them more readable for patients in an urban clinic setting. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 2018; 79(3):AB236.
In the landscape of increasing demands on physician and staff time, intake forms are frequently utilized to gather information before the start of the clinical encounter. These forms typically contain information on reason for visit, allergies, current medications, pertinent health history, abbreviated review of systems and important social history. We assessed a sample of the intake forms at our clinic and found that 63% of the time the forms were not filled out at all. A resident poll showed that 75% of residents felt the forms were not useful. We recognized several potential barriers to the forms getting filled out, including lack of clear instructions at the time of check-in, not enough time to fill them out, and importantly, health care literacy. A study from 2003 showed that 36% of U.S. adults had Basic or Below Basic health literacy. Those at risk included adults 65 and older, living at or below the poverty level, with English as a second language, government insurance, and a less formal education. In our urban location of Detroit, Michigan, roughly 47% of adults in Detroit—200,000 total—are "functionally illiterate" meaning they have trouble with reading, speaking, writing, and computational skills. Approximately one-half have a high school diploma or GED. Because of these statistics and the results of our preimplementation survey, our goal was to modify our existing intake form to better suit our needs and the needs of our patients. Our original intake form had an automated readability index of 6, correlating with a fifth grade reading level. We created a more simplified form and removed unclear components. The new intake form had an automated readability index of 5, correlating with a fourth grade reading level, with a one grade level improvement. We assessed a sample of patients in our clinic and 60% said the new form was more "readable" and 80% said they were "more likely to complete" the new form. In addition, 80% of the residents felt the new form helped make the appointment more efficient most of the time. Our plan to keep up the momentum of this QI project is to continue a team approach with participation from the physicians, medical assistants and front desk staff and to recognize that literacy rates vary in our patient population.


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