NEWS

Graphic Design Editor

Movie theaters everywhere have struggled to be successful. Now would seem like a terrible time to buy a theater. Eric Plummer and Mike Lahosid disagree. These two jumped at the chance to revive Sandpoint’s local movie theater, formerly known as Bonner Mall Cinemas.

“With all the closures,” Plummer said, “it wasn’t hard to find [a theater], but we had to act quick. We had to jump in knowing that there could be rough times.” Plummer and Lahosid knew that buying a movie theater was a big risk, but they were confident that they could make great improvements to Bonner Mall Cinemas. The new managers’ first step in making this entertainment center come alive again was re branding the business as Sandpoint Cinemas.

Plummer plans to try to make the theater safer and better than ever. He is working to expand the movie theater’s digital footprint by updating its website and marketing through social media to reach audiences. The managers have also implemented private screenings where people can rent out an entire showing room. In addition, Plummer said he wants to start showing high school sporting events live in the theatre for those who want to watch the games where there are no spectators allowed.

Employees have observed the improvements the new managers have made to the facility as well. Kile Hind, a former employee of Bonner Mall Cinemas, said “They’ve done a lot of work there. [They] put in new candy, new popcorn sizes, and prices are lower. They are definitely trying to get people to come.”

All the employees at Bonner Mall Cinemas were let go when it shut down. Luckily, most of the employees were offered jobs at Sandpoint Cinemas when Plummer and Lahosid took over. This was the case for Hinds who currently works for the new managers.

Health precautions are being taken to keep the theater open and the guests safe. Routine cleaning, a limit on the number of people in a showing room, and taped off seats to distance people from each other have been integrated. Employees are suited up in their masks and plexiglass partitions are stationed in the lobby.

Several changes have already been made to the theater to give the business a second chance at success. The cinema will most likely be seeing an upswing in business as the pandemic mellows and other businesses start opening again.

TENTATIVE NEXT STEPS Q & A with the post-secondary guidance counselor about how she is preparing seniors for their next steps.

By Wil Auld

Radio/Podcast Editor & Web Manager

The counseling department has had to adjust how they reach seniors and help them plan for what next steps they will take after high school Here is post-secondary guidance counselor Jeralyn Meyer’s take.

Q: What major challenges have you come across during application season this year? A: This year has been extremely challenging in a lot of ways. I think one of the first things is that when we shifted to the four-by-four schedule we sacrificed a lot of things that we have in place for seniors in English and Government class. Currently, we’re really only seeing around half the seniors right now and we’ll see the other half in the spring. Even though that’s not necessarily too late a lot of things that should be happening now for some of those seniors just aren’t. Q: What is the process of helping a student apply for colleges? A: Fall is for working on applications and FAFSA as well as applying to a range of schools since you really don’t decide until the spring when you get that financial package back. Once they get accepted the students move on to their free application for federal aid. Once the schools get that then they will send a financial aid package to their college email that says how muchfinancial aid] they can help with. After that we help them with their housing application, picking classes, [and] registering. Q: How has this process changed during the pandemic if at all? A: I think, we are not hand holding as much because we used to do apply week with every single senior and everybody applied somewhere. Now, we only got to do that with half the seniors, but we had a very poor turnout for that event. So I think they’re a little more on their own. Q: Are students still getting their ap-

Photo by: Wyatt Leoni

Above: Jeralyn Meyer meets with a student and discusses their senior plans. plications in by themselves or are they putting it off? A: I’ve been working along with Kate Neu on calling students and just saying “Okay, where are you in the process? Do you need any help?’ So we’ve been calling students down individually and trying to connect them. Q: How do you see counseling changing if the school were to shut down again? A: What we worked on last year was really supporting teachers with students that were struggling and reaching out to parents...It’s still a challenge if we go remote again, but I hope we don’t because I think it’s better for students, staff, and everybody.