CMR Stampede January 10, 2022 by CMR Stampede

STAMPEDE 2021-2022

IN-DEPTH

Photo by Isabel Foley.

The Stampede

CONTENTS

Photo by Emily Carter

Photo by Jack Sparks

FINE ARTS

Photo by Jack Sparks

BY MADISON MCMURPHEY, STAFF WRITER

BY CJ KIERNAN

MENTAL HEALTH BY JORDAN CLARK, STAFF WRITER

24-25

MILITARY KIDS BY SIERRA HIGHWOOD, STAFF WRITER

26-27

MUSIC

BY EMILY CARTER, STAFF WRITER

28-29

CENSORSHIP

30-32

BY ISABEL FOLEY, PHOTO EDITOR Photo by Justin Bollich

internships BY KERRIGAN EDWARDS, EDITOR IN CHIEF

04-05

NEW STUDENTS BY MARISSA MCMICKLE, EDITOR

06-07

CYBER BULLYING

08-09

CULINARY ARTS BY JACK SPARKS, STAFF WRITER

10-11

BEING HELPFUL BY ASHLEY LUGO ROMAN, STAFF WRITER

12-13

MUSIC

14-15

BY KAYLA MUSTON, STAFF WRITER

BY AMILLIA THREADGILL, STAFF WRITER

table of CMR VEHICLES BY JUSTIN BOLLICH, STAFF WRITER

22-23

teachers Photo courtesy of Madison McMurphey

16-17

EDITORIAL 20-21 POLICY 18-19

BY JESS MOORE, STAFF WRITER

TEEN PREGNANCY

Photo courtesy of Madison McMurphey

Photo by Justin Bollich.

The state of the bathrooms is one of the most embarrassing things I have ever witnessed for the school district as a whole. A high school environment is one that should be professional as well as more mature than grade levels smaller than 9. However, in my 12 years of education through the Great Falls Public schools district, I have never witnessed anything this absurd. For those who are not aware, Charles M. Russell bathrooms have been prone to vandalism this year. This means that students are urinating on toilet paper rolls, forcefully clogging the toilets, and breaking stall doors. It should be common knowledge that this should not happen within a high school, a building that is supposed to be training students for the future.

However, all that students are learning right now is that they can get away with horrible actions with minimal consequence. The administration has just begun to officially close all second and third floor bathrooms to all students, except special needs. Although the administration is doing everything in their power to encourage students not to damage public property, something more serious must be done. This is not the way that students should act. Whoever is going through with these acts must understand that their actions against the school district are childish and embarrassing for everyone involved. The use of common sense clearly isn’t present, and it’s time for some serious growing up to occur.

IT’S TIME TO GROW UP BY KERRIGAN EDWARDS, EDITOR IN CHIEF

The Stampede -- produced by journalism classes at C.M Russell High School -- is a public forum for all voices on campus. These voices include the students, parents, faculty, and the community at large. The opinions and views in this publication are not necessarily those of the Stampede staff, the student body, CMR employees, or the school administration. The Stampede strives to cover the news accurately and fairly; however, when a mistake is made, a correction will be printed in the following issue. All writers are responsible for the content of their articles. Editors will edit all copies to be free of plagiarism and libel, and all writers will double-check their facts before publication. Letters to the editor and guest essays are welcome. Letters are limited to 200 words, and essays 350 words. All submissions must be signed and include a phone number so authenticity can be verified. The editors and/or adviser letters the right to edit all letters for grammar and spelling as well as content that may include profanity, be libelous, obscene or not meet general editorial guidelines. Anonymous letters are not accepted. Submissions can be dropped off in room 326 or e-mailed to: stampede@gfps. k12.mt.us. The Stampede maintains membership in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the National Scholastic Press Association, the Journalism Education Association and Quill and Scroll. Some material courtesy of American Society or Newspaper Editors/KRT Campus High School Newspaper Service. Photo by Justin Bollich

Photo by Marissa McMickle

Photo by Emily Carter

INTERNSHIPS

The Stampede

EMMA MCCARTHY Emma McCarthy is weighing her options in two different fields through her internship. “My internship is with Speaking Socially, and they are a multimedia managing company,” McCarthy said. Her involvement with Speaking Socially is all due to her mother. “My mom knew them and she knew that it was something that I was interested in. We talked about doing it over the summer, but then we waited for the school year,” McCarthy said. For her internship, McCarthy learns how to work with the program Adobe Illustrator, and creates merchandise for her mother’s cheer company. “My mom owns Rise Athletics, so I just kind of do all the material for that. I’m

AN INSIDE LOOK AT STUDENT INTERNSHIPS BY KERRIGAN EDWARDS, EDITOR IN CHIEF

MEGAN ALLEN

Senior Megan Alllen. Photo by Kerrigan Edwards.

Megan Allen is focusing her internship on nurse practitioners and midwives. Allen is considering attending either Carroll College or Grand Canyon University. Throughout her internship, Allen said she has “learned more about women’s health, and just the whole process of pregnancy and what they track, and how important it is.” Allen recognizes the valuable aspects that her internship class brings to her future. “I think it’s important because you get a better insight if this is the career that you really want to do or not. And it really opens your eyes and the horizons of what people actually do,” Allen said. “In 45 hours, you can actually see what they do on a dayto-day basis, instead of just getting a glimpse from a one-day kind of thing,” she said. Allen encourages others to take the internship class if they have a desire to pursue a career in the medical field. Senior Kendra Smith. Photo by Kerrigan Edwards.

Senior Chloe Clark Photo by Kerrigan Edwards.

Senior Jackie Fatz. Photo by Kerrigan Edwards.

The internship class is made entirely of Seniors who have gone through the several classes that allow them to participate. The beginning of the medical preparation classes starts with Medical Terminology, a course that is considered a prerequisite for all high ranking classes. Introduction to health occupations and introduction to athletic training are both considered valuable to internships, and one of the two is required for entry. The second rank of classes for entry to level three classes are Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology, or Honors Anatomy and Physiology. Finally, after passing through these two levels, students are able to go into Health Occupations Internship, EMT (emergency medical technician), CNA (certified nurse aid), and Advanced Health Science. Senior Rafe Premo. Photo by Kerrigan Edwards.

Rafe Premo is shadowing general surgeon, Dr. Mortenson. Premo has taken medical terminology, intro to health occupations, honors anatomy and physiology CTE honors, and now health occupation internship. “I go to the office and observe patients, their consultations, pre-surgery and post-surgery, and then I go to Benefis or the clinic hospital and I observe surgeries,” Premo said. Although he does not have a specific area in mind, Premo is interested in becoming a general surgeon after completing medical schoo In the internship class, students are required to observe 45 hours of their preceptor in the entire year, to gain a single credit in the class. So far, two total presentations have been required in the class to display professionalism, and goals that students have for their education. Students are provided their preceptor through Mrs.

“Internship is super fun and exciting. The coolest part is learning outside of a classroom. You get to observe, and do hands-on stuff. “ - Jewlia Archey-

KENDRA SMITH

Kendra Smith is a senior who is devoted to practicing pediatric physical therapy. Currently, Smith is interning at Evergreen Therapy Center, but she also has observed some classes at the Peak Health and Wellness Center. “I want to specialize in pediatrics, but right now all the pediatrics are on maternity leave,” Smith said. Right now, she has the opportunity to work with all ages. She has observed everything from car accident recovery to individuals with cerebral palsy. “I love older people, but I don’t think I want to [work with them] for my whole career,” Smith said. “With children, you never know what you’re going to expect. You always have to be on your toes, and nothing will be the same.”

Smith plans to further her education in Great Falls. “I have a scholarship to go to the University of Providence to get my basics out of the way and then hopefully that will help me get into the University of Montana, which is the only PT program in the state of Montana.” For the time being, however, Smith is preparing for her change of location in the next year, a move that will allow her to work with children of all ages. “In January I’m going to move to the new women and children’s building by Benefis,” she said.

Virts, unless otherwise requested by the student. By utilizing her CNA training from the prior summer, Chloe Clark is working to excel in the medical field as a labor and delivery nurse. Currently, Clark is interning with a medical surgery nurse. She observes a lot of different procedures, giving her a generalized idea about what the medical field has to offer. The main motivation for her involvement in the field is the outcome that it will have on others.“I really want to be able to help people and so that’s why I’ve been wanting to go towards healthcare,” Clark said. “My medical internship is with Dr. Ameline, a dentist. I have been shadowing dental hygienists as well as dentists, and I witness many exciting procedures every day. Soon, I will be able to get some hours in with a periodontist and that means I might get to see some surgeries as well. My biggest takeaway from this experience is that I can see myself in this profession,” Jackie Fatz said.

INVOLVEMENT IN INTERNSHIP

not with direct clients because they are paying for a service, so, I do a little bit of work for their clients, but mainly just Rise Athletics,” she said. Although McCarthy finds the business industry entertaining, she doesn’t know if this is the path she wants to follow. “I think what I’m lacking in business is I don’t feel like I’m making a difference in the world or helping. That’s where I fall short there. With multimedia management, I get nervous that it’s not a job that carries a lot of weight or is super demanding,” McCarthy said. McCarthy is additionally participating in EMT classes at C.M. Russell High School and believes the adrenaline aspect of being in the medical field would be more suitable for her.

Senior Emma McCarthy with Speaking Socially coworkers. Photo courtesy of Emma McCarthy.

JADAN GARNER Jadan Garner hopes that her future is one that prevents insecurity in children, and motivates hard work. “I’ve always been kind of interested in the therapies in general,” Garner said. She said she leans towards speech therapy, understanding that she could help children progress through their speech impediments. “A lot of those kids get picked on, and [I like] knowing that I’ll help them work through that,” Garner said. Along with speech pathology, Garner plans to study sign language as well as psychology. Garner has observed patients who struggle with muteness, and she is working to learn how to communicate Senior Jadan Garner. Photo by Kerrigan Edwards.

with them. “They’ll just work on sounds and they even use signing, which in some cases, [will] help them just kind of relearn everything, and then they’ll just retrain their brain,” Garner added. Because patients are unable to receive care all days of the week, they are often sent home with homework to encourage vocal recovery. For patients who are in the office specifically because of traumatic reasons, Garner at least hopes to improve their lives in some way. “I’ll be able to help them go through and find ways to cope basically, especially if you can’t treat their condition.”

The Stampede

with Brenda Lowry How can you or the AP’s here in the office help new students feel welcome?

“When we meet them, we initially make an appointment to sit down with them and their family and we have conversations about their interests, career goals, and we look at their transcripts. We look at their grad progress, we see if they want to be involved in extracurriculars and connect them with the appropriate person. We have our aid to be our ambassadors to take them on tours. They help them with book checkouts, lockers, and getting their ID’s.”

What challenges have you seen with students and our curriculum?

Photo courtesy of Atriana Larson

Junior Atriana Larson reads about Montana on Dec. 3. Photo by Isabel Foley.

Junior returns to Montana BY MARISSA MCMICKLE, EDITOR

Moving to a new place can be difficult, but for junior Atriana Larson, moving back to a place you have already lived can sometimes be worse. “I had my last year of elementary school [in Washington], and elementary school is a time when everyone wants to be friends with everyone. There’s no groups so it was pretty easy [to fit in], and I grew up with all my friends in Washington from the end of elementary all the way up to my second year of high school.” Larson lived in Great Falls up until fourth grade, but she moved to Washington because of her dad’s military job. She said it was hard to make friends when she moved back, but some people reached out to her because of her siblings who previously lived in town.

“The school here is huge,” Larson said. “[There’s] so many more kids versus my school in Washington, [which] was relatively small. A one-floor building, maybe a couple hundred kids.” She said it was difficult to adjust to classes because of the differences in curriculum. She also mentioned that finding her way around the school was challenging. Despite the difficulties, Larson said her time in Great Falls Public Schools has been rewarding. “In high school, there’s certain groups and people [who] aren’t as welcoming as they would be if they were younger,” she said. “Just be open minded, talk to whoever you want to. Don’t close yourself in and people will want to talk to you.”

Showen expresses struggles of teaching new students BY MARISSA MCMICKLE, EDITOR When students join her class mid-quarter, one English teacher finds that students may not want to review material they already know, but she feels that revisiting information will never harm anyone. “It’s not going to hurt you to reread something,” Jill Showen said. Showen shares an experience that she had with a newer student. “She moved when we were over half way done with a book, and I didn’t make her go back and reread it because we were so far into it. It would’ve been really hard to get her caught up on it,” she said. “As a teacher you have to make allowances, and it’s hard and frustrating but you do what you have to do.” Although reading something over again is not always troubling, there are times where it is unnecessary to waste a student’s time. “If I have a kid that transfers in from another

class, or another district or anything and we were in the middle of a play or book, it’s really hard to get them caught up because I feel if you give them a certain amount of time to get caught up, it’s hard,” she said. “Depending on how far you are into [the book] you can have them go back and have them get caught up, but a lot of kids won’t do it.” Having students move from out of district can be extremely stressful for educators, but there are more challenges when it comes to those students speaking with their teachers. “Definitely communicate with your teacher. I think a lot of kids have problems communicating with their teachers, but we are not mind readers. They can’t expect us to always reach out,” Showen said.

“We see students come in from all over the world and so different school districts are structured differently. Sometimes we have kids who are coming in on a block schedule which makes it hard because they’re only in four classes for two hours a day to seven periods a day. We don’t want to have them lose credit so we try to solve them as best we can. Our goal is always on time graduation, so we have to get creative sometimes to do that.”

How do you think older kids can help new students? “I think the best thing is to put yourself in their shoes and have empathy. Be friendly, kind, and helpful. Reach out to someone, introduce yourself, you see when a student is new, shows up and you’ve never seen them before. Put yourself out there and I would say the same thing to new students, making new friends can be hard but it’s really hard if you are afraid to take a chance and talk to them.”

& Around how many new students do we get a year? “We get anywhere between 150 and 200 a year.”

What advice would you give to new students who have been here for a couple of months?

“The first advice I feel would be to talk to your counselor. Lots of times we send them on their way and then if we don’t hear from them we don’t know they are struggling. We can help them get involved, problem solve with the teacher, or sometimes our placement in a class is wrong, and don’t suffer in silence.”

The Stampede

Student gets cyberbullied. Photo by Kayla Muston.

Photo courtesy of Mia Britt.

Student says bullying must stop Former Rustler Mia Britt has strong feelings about cyber bullying. Now a student in White Sulphur Springs, Britt said that people tend to hide it from others when they get bullied online. “I feel like it tends to hurt a lot of people,” she said. ‘I feel like it goes up and down at times.” When bullying occurs, many people get scared, shut down and don’t tell anyone. Britt said people can get off social media or seek help so that cyberbullying will stop. Although Britt said she has never been the victim of online bullying, she can sympathize. “I witnessed one of my friends get cyber bullied, and it made me sad.”

Cyber

Bullying

What counselor and former Rustler student thinks Cyber Bullying should stop She said, “ I would say probably in the past five years it has gotten worse.” She thinks that we can’t really fix it because it’s been such a problem. “ I have hope that we can become better consumers by using social media,” she says. We hopefully can also teach kids to know what’s acceptable and what’s not when it comes down to using social media. “ Unfortunately, I think it’s much easier to sit behind a phone and start typing without thinking before we do things that hurt others.” she said. We also think that overall people need to be smarter when it comes down to social media and be careful with what you are doing when it comes to being on social media. Another person that thinks cyber bullying has gotten bad is this boy named James Jury. James Jury said, “ Cyber bullying should be

against the law for how bad it is now.” We think that it has gotten bad and something does need to be done to fix it or at least make it better for everyone. Next, he thinks it’s getting bad. “ It has gotten worse because it causing people to commit suicide.” he said. He thinks that if people do something to make it better then we would not be having problems with people committing siucide to get away from everything and to make themselves feel better about everything. Next he said, “ I have never been cyber bullied but if I did, I would just block them and get on with my life.” That is one of the examples that kids feel if they were to get cyber bullied. If they were to get rid of cyber bullying then he said “ Yes, if they were to put a law on cyber bullying I bet anything that it’ll either slow down or stop it for good.”

Marissa Amato is a future counselor, and she has one specific thing that she believes about cyber bullying. “In some ways, I feel that it’s worse than real world, face-to-face bullying,” she said. Society faces many problems in the world with technology, and that makes it difficult to get away for some alone time in some situations. The fact that much of the bullying is anonymous makes it almost impossible to find who started everything. Bullying can also become a group effort. It’s also really easy to post embarrassing pictures or videos about someone. Has it gotten worse or better over the years? “[It has] definitely gotten worse over time,” Amato said. “ In some ways, I feel that it has stayed about the same the past couple of years.” During the pandemic, she said she was worried bullying would get worse since everyone was online, but she read that only 25 percent of people reported cyber bullying which was a decrease from the previous year. “Thankfully, I did not grow up with all the social media that we have around now,” she added. Amato didn’t experience anything like online bullying until she was in college. She started dealing with a troll on Facebook, but since she was in college she could handle it. She blocked them and reported it. As someone training to be a counselor, Amato is disturbed by what she is seeing on a daily basis. “It’s frustrating and sad that people feel the need to lash out at others in an attempt to make themselves feel better,” she said As a counselor, she handles her clients’ online problems like they were experiencing in-person bullying. Since cyber bullying is so intrusive, she said she needs to help people fast and more often to build and practice skills on how to deal with the issue. She has advised people to get off social media altogether, but that never happens. “Unlike face-to-face bullying, the technology we have now makes it possible for cyber bullying to happen anytime/ anywhere, and it’s harder to get away from it.”

37% of young people between ages 12 to 17 have been bullied.

BY KAYLA MUSTON, STAFF WRITER

I interviewed Mrs. Lowery, who is a counselor at CMR. One of the things I asked her was do you often get people that come and talk to you about cyber bullying? Her response was it really does depend on the day and it also depends on what is going on inside the schools at the time. Sometimes it can defer every month and everything just depends on everything that is going on in the schools. Next thing is that I was wondering how she felt about cyber bullying, and she said, “ I think cyberbullying is a real problem”. It’s a very rare thing that people can keep up with being online before they start getting bullied. “Social media has become such an integral part of everyone’s life” she said. Students have a very hard time with disengaging from their electronic devices because they are on social media and they can’t get away from it for a little bit because they are so attached to it.

Future counselor thinks bullying is getting worse

42% of young people have been bullied on Instagram.

Ashanti Martinez fears bullying will be difficult to stop

One student who dislikes online bullying is senior Ashanti Martinez. “Cyber bullying is a terrible thing. To communicate sitting behind a screen and bullying is very childish,” Martinez said. “It simply shouldn’t be done.” It’s also not going away, she admits. “I believe cyber bullying has gotten worse because of all the new social media platforms we have,” she said, adding that she believes that if people don’t stop using social media as a way to hurt people, then the issue of bullying will not be resolved. Martinez said that although she wants to get rid of cyber bullying, she fears as a society we will not be able to. “I don’t think there is a way to stop it. Cyber bullying is just people being hateful and wanting to cause a conflict with the victim,” she said. She thinks that there is no way to get rid of it because it’s just people being rude over social media. “I have not been cyber bullied before, but I’ve seen others who have been,” she said. When she sees others being the victims of bullying, she said she does not like it.

Ways to stop cyber bullying or slow it down * Have certain protocalls on social media , so if something does happen on the platform, then they have a certain rule they are suppose to follow so that they can stop the cyber bulling that’s going on. * Get rid of social media all together. * Teach people about how bad cyber bullying actually is.

83% of people think that social media should do more to stop cyber bulling on their platforms.

Photo by Kayla Muston.

https://www.dosomething.org > facts

* Have support groups to help out people that have been cyber bullied before that need help to get them through everything.

The Stampede

Culinary ARTs

The creations of Culinary 1 Scones

One of the first pastries that the Culinary 1 classes make are scones. Scones are a dense and crunchy pastry that typically have a variety of mix-ins. They can have anything from mixed berries to cinnamon or chocolate chips. Students are taught the reasoning behind the need for cold butter instead of room-temperature or soft butter, and the mixing techniques needed to properly make the dish.

Teaching the next generation of chefs BY JACK SPARKS. STAFF WRITER Normally when people think of chefs, they don’t think of teachers. At C. M. Russell high school, Danielle Stark and Jordan Clutter teach culinary. This year is Stark’s 21st year, and Clutter’s first. For Stark, she initially began teaching because she felt cooking was a skill people would use through their entire life. “I like teaching practical things. I like teaching things that people are going to use throughout their whole life,” Stark said. Stark learned to cook from her grandmother at an early age, and has taken that skill and passion with her through her entire life. “So I’d asked my mom one time because my mom does not like to cook and most people assume that that’s how I learned how to cook at home and then she said to me that when I was little my grandma would cook with me for hours,” Stark said. Stark’s mom never liked to cook, so Stark started cooking the family meals as early as middle school. She thought that she wanted to be an English teacher as a kid. She had always wanted to be a teacher, and when she was looking through course catalogs she stumbled

upon family consumer science. “I started reading through the course catalog and this thing called family consumer science was there and I was reading about it. And it wasn’t just it wasn’t just culinary. It was also the

I get ”toI’mhaveso thehappyvariety. I

Culinary 1 students make pretzles on Nov. 30.

Culinary With Covid After three years of uncertainty, things are finally starting to return to how they once were. But nothing will ever be the same again. In C. M. Russell High School’s culinary classes, COVID-19 has changed many things for all the participants. Sophomore Reese Reid, a student in Culinary 3, said that one of the big differences was the silverware. “We had to use reusable silverware and stuff, so it was all like plastic,” Reid said. Another big difference was the safety regulations. COVID caused safety in all areas to increase, and food safety has been no exception. While an influx of hand sanitizer filled classrooms, an increase in the frequency of hand washing flooded the kitchens. Hand washing and dishwashing became the step in between each step of everything. “We had to wash our aprons more over time,” Reid said. As COVID has started to calm down, students are now able use metal silverware and cook without masks. Nothing is how it used to be, but things are growing closer to how they had been.

Culinary 1 students make pretzles on Nov. 30. Photos by Jack Sparks

love that every day is different and I get to teach a variety of things. I’d be bored teaching the same thing all day -Daniell Stark

“

child development stuff, [and] the family financial skills stuff. I liked the whole package. I just kind of fell into teaching culinary,” Stark said.

Stark also teaches interior design, and her class does design for the High School House. “I’m so happy I get to have the variety. I love that every day is different and I get to teach a variety of things. I’d be bored teaching the same thing all day every day,” Stark said. On the other hand, Clutter only baked rarely as a child. Clutter was originally teaching at Great Falls High, but moved this year to C. M. Russell. She had planned to be a history teacher. “And then I fell into FCS last year and it just seemed to work. It fits me and my personality, what I’m about, what I enjoy,” Clutter said. Clutter has found teaching culinary to be what she expected at the beginning of the year. For her, she said that teaching came authentically. “I think it comes authentically for me. I wouldn’t say that it’s hard, but I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily easy. I think the classroom dynamics are what makes it hard. The teaching is easy. It’s people wanting to learn that makes it hard. You have to kind of win [the students over]. We have to win you guys over. To like us. You’re not gonna learn from us,” Clutter said.

Thanksgiving Dinner During the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving break, the culinary classes began their Thanksgiving lab. They were taught how to cook traditional Thanksgiving meals. Each of the groups in the classes were each assigned to make a meal such as stuffing, turkey, gravy, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes.

Aliyah Yassin gets out a spatuals on Dec. 1.

Cupcakes

Culinary students prepare frosting for cupcakes on Dec. 1.

Culinary 1 students make pretzles on Nov. 30.

join What made culinary?

Near the end of semester one, students learn how to make one of the most wellknown baked goods; cupcakes. Students are taught what each component of the recipe does for the cupcake. They make and bake the cupcakes one day, then frost the next. On the second day, they make their own frosting and have a large range of different sprinkles to choose from. Students decorate their cupcakes before eating them, and enjoying the taste of their creations.

YOU

Melody Lake

“I joined culinary because I don’t know how to cook very well and I thought that it would be a good opportunity to learn and have fun with people I know.”

Ben Peterson

“I wanted to learn to cook things so that when I went to collage I wouldn’t be eating stove-top ramen.”

Daniel Souza

“I enjoy the art of cooking and the science behind it. It’s also just kinda fun to cook with the pals.”

Melody Lake eats her cupcake on Dec. 2.

“

I’m just expected to help because it is nice.

I feel like good because they come to me for help. Dakota Trusty, 09

“

Mekaila Wallace, 09

The Stampede

I help people more than I help myself before I get my work I help them to get theres done. Jada Dusek, 09

Students work on a group project Photo by Ashley Roman.

HOW TO HELP:

Great Falls Food Bank (406) 452-9029 1620 12th Avenue North Missouri river youth center & shelter (406) 761-2135 12017 th Ave NW Countryside Village (406) 452-8442 3805 7th st NE unit 212

“

Carolyn Crane, 11

“

I Grew up to help people , it wasn’t really a choice and if I don’t help people, I feel bad.

“

Rhreamrea Shoulderblade, 09

helpful being

How students interact with each BY ASHLEY ROMAN,STAFF WRITER other

Photo by Ashley Roman.

Sophmore volunteers at local church There’s one student who volunteers every Wednesday at his church’s youth group. “Every other week I do sound for the worship, and on the other weeks I do lights or presentations,” sophomore Jonathan Moore said. Moore was not always on production. He said he was first sent to set and tear down groups, but the church was in need of people for production. “It has brought me great joy and sometimes anger,” Moore said. The joyful feeling that sound has brought to Moore has made a good change in him. “It is awesome to just listen to the sound that you produce and have that awe of beauty that you hear,” he said. Taking some time in his week to help people in need, Moore said, has given him a good feeling about volunteering his time.

Photo by Jessica Moore

“

I feel special because no one really asks for my help.

There is one thing that biology teacher Maureen Thompson especially likes to see in her classroom. “I am happy that my students are kind and willing to help a peer in class,” Thompson said. The first-year Rustler teacher said her students successfully express the way they truly feel about their classmates. “My students are willing to help a peer when in need. I use a lot of collaborative learning in my classroom by having students work in partners and teams for labs and activities,” she said. “I believe it provides students the opportunity to take ownership of their learning and help their peers learn, too. I also work to create an environment in the classroom with a growth mindset. It is OK to make mistakes while learning -- that is part of the process and journey.” Thompson’s students are not alone. Behind the scenes, most Rustlers have fought the same battle, and the look in their eyes knows others are as well. Many students find a way to help each other and explain what their teachers are presenting to the class. The way their teachers express themselves about how they feel about their students. Andrew Nagengast, a teacher in the art department, sees the way the small community works together to help one another. “It’s a community, and if you help each other it helps you become a better artist,” Nagengast said. Some students struggle when Nagengast is explaining and instructing them on what to do, and he said when one student is confused they ask the person next to them for help. “Everyday is a good day; everyone helps everyone,” Nagenast said. New biology teacher Alyssa Birkett is experiencing the CMR atmosphere for the first time, and she said she has seen students help one another while being up on the board, and she said she is trying to get the students to help one another more often, including studying for tests. Social studies teacher Craig Gaslow admits that students often understand their assignments more from a classmate than a teacher. “Students learn more from each other more than getting a lecture from a teacher,” Gaslow said.

The Stampede

the

Makers

Students pursue their dreams outside of school Jaiden William

Being able to sing her heart out Aubrey Inks said that what she really enjoys about being in choir would be getting to learn how to use her voice and see the brilliant range of her vocals. She really enjoys the amount of fun they can all have in the class together and all of the songs they get to sing and learn. She just really enjoys getting to sing her heart out and be able to have fun while doing it and being around people she enjoys being around as well. Choir is something that she is very passionate about and has been doing it since she was in middle school and this is her first year doing choir here at CMR.

Photo by Amellia Threadgill

Pierce

Jaiden Peirce has been playing/ making music since he was in fourth grade. “I wrote a cheesy love song for my fourth grade crush,” Peirce said. His inspiration to start making music was fueled by the fact that he really enjoys music. “The fact is, I really really enjoy music with my heart and soul.” Anytime Jaiden writes music, he uses his heart and soul and wants people to hear his music and be able to connect with themselves. Pierce got interested in making music from both of his parents. Both his father and mother make and play or even sing music. They are both just very into music and enjoy it. Pierce tries playing about 3-5 times a week and he wants to be able to get his music out and into the world for people to be able to enjoy and just listen to. His love of music is fantastic. He loves being able to put his whole heart into his own music and just being able to express himself. He really enjoys just getting to spend his free time writing and making songs. He hopes one day people will be able to just listen to his music and enjoy every word and note that is sung or played. He is really passionate about his writing and would love to just get it out to everyone to hear.

When THEY Love PLAYING Dylan Hufford

BY AMILLIA THREADGILL, STAFF WRITER

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-we-stop-discovering-new-music-around-age-30-2018-6#:~:text=The%20 peak%20age%20for%20discovering,with%20music%20

Photo by Amellia Threadgill

Wanting to pursue a musical career, King is very interested in making his own music. He would like to make something like pop punk and metal. He has been wanting to do this since he was in about fifth grade. But it wasnt until recently he started to get more serious about making his own music. He specifically said that wanting to do this can be a time consuming and frustrating process. But once you start you yourself will end up being your harshest critic against everything that you do make and do. Once you actaully get going though, things start becoming slightly easier and it becomes less of a hassel for you and more of a fun time without all the frustration.

Random Fun Facts 1. Musicians have a shorter life span than any other profession. 2. Singing in a group boosts you mood. 3. Music affects your perception of the world. 4. Music helps plants grow faster.

Photo by Amellia Threadgill

When do most kids start learning music or an instrument?

The ages between 4-7 are usually the most ideal for starting to learn an instrument. Not only are kids’ hands and minds functional enough to play, but they can actually begin to understand the basics of music. https://www.creativesoulmusic.com/blog/what-is-a-goodage-to-start-music-lessons#:~:text=4%2D7%20Years%20

Photo by Amellia Threadgill

https://bestlifeonline.com/music-facts/

When do people start getting interested in music?

The peak age for discovering new music, the results suggested, was 24. This is when 75% of respondents said they listened to 10 or more new tracks a week, and 64% said they sought out five new artists per month. After this, though, it seems people’s ability to keep up with music trends peters off.

Hufford has been wanting to make his own music for about two years now. How he got interested in music was due to him watching this movie for the first time. He watched Bohemian Rhaspsody in theaters and he loved it. He started playing bass right after that. Now he wants to go to Seattle and play for his career. He has now been experimented with his Guitar to see where it gets him. He wants to make it to where he is remembered for something other than working at McDonald’s. He got his inspiration from Kurt Cobain. Kurt Cobain was the lead singer, guitarist and primary songwriter for the seminal grunge band Nirvana.

Ayden King

How long have humans been making music? Making music is a universal human trait that has gone back all the way to at least 35,000 years ago. https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/artmusic#:~:text=Making%20music%20is%20a%20 universal,at%20least%2035%2C000%20years%20ago.

What was the first instrument ever to be made? The oldest musical instrument in the world, a 60,000-year-old Neanderthal flute is a treasure of global significance. It was discovered in Divje babe cave near Cerkno and has been declared by experts to have been made by Neanderthals. It is made from the left thighbone of a young cave bear and has four pierced holes.

https://www.nms.si/en/collections/highlights/343-Neanderthalflute#:~:text=world%20(60%2C000%20years)-,The%20oldest%20

CMR VEHICLES

First time behind the wheel

BY JUSTIN BOLLICH, STAFF WRITER

High School is when most students get their very own car, an experience which is unique

Gracie Galvez and Issac Stark sitting with their cars on Dec. 9. Photo by Justin Bollich

Changing Gears After getting a car, the first thing many students do is try to make it their own. Some try to change their cars visually, with paint, or wheels. Others do internal modifications for performance. “[My car has] aftermarket headers and [a] cold air intake, shift kit, [and] paint correction,” said Maximus Dascoulias. Dascoulias is the owner of a Foxbody Mustang, and has changed quite a bit in the 2 months he’s owned the car. Another Mustang owner who has done modifications to his car is Ayden King, who owns a newer 2005 mustang. “I have an aftermarket cold air intake and then I have springs,“ said King King has only had his Mustang for about a month, but the car has history behind it. “It was an experience. It was fun, very exciting, especially when I got handed the keys,” said King, “I know it’s from California. It was there when it was made and then it’s been in Fort Benton since 2008.” Despite not owning it long, King is fond of his car, and wouldn’t trade it for something easily. “It would have to be a new Dodge Challenger

Hellcat, or Dodge Demon in order for me to trade it out,” said King. One other student with a modified vehicle is Chase morgan. “It’s got, I believe it’s a six inch lift on 35 [inch] tires. It just got a new engine in it a few years ago because the other one’s going out,” said Morgan Morgan drives a 1996 Tahoe that has been in his family for years, and the decision to change anything about it wouldn’t be easy. “It would be a hard decision between either, repainting it the same color, kind of because it’s old, the clear coat is falling off so either redoing that or changing the color to a kind of smoky gray because my dad has wanted to do that forever. And so, it’s hard because the red is really nice. It’s always been red, or change it to that smoky gray that he loves,” Said Morgan, “so either redo the color or change it. I mean, I don’t know anything else other than fixing it up. Really. I mean, just an old vehicle. It’s just got like those things in it.”

The silver pinstripes on the rear of Chase Morgan’s Tahoe. Photo by Shawn Morgan.

Ayden King’s 2005 Mustang. Photo by Ayden King.

Stranger Stripes

Most common car manufacturers (In the main lot , 11/29) Ford: Chevy: Honda: Subaru: Toyota:

37 36 22 20 18

(18.5%) (18%) (11%) (10%) (9%)

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Chase Morgan Discusses a story about the pinstripes on his truck: “Funny story about how it got those pinstripes, and this kind of unrelated but it’s cool to tell. My dad was helping a guy in Las Vegas on the side of the road, his car broke down, and he helped the guy go to the auto store, and then he brought him back to his car, and the guy tried to give my dad money, and he wouldn’t accept it. And he was like: here, one sec, and he went to the back of his car and pulled out the pinstripes and he went to the side of it and just put them on the Tahoe on the side of the strip in Las Vegas, which is like, that’s awesome. I know. It’s just like those things that only happen in Las Vegas.”

and different for everyone. “I remember the freedom that it granted. The wildness of being on your own and every decision that you made on the road is totally influenced by just you,” said Chase Morgan. Morgan recently started driving his dad’s Chevy Tahoe, which has been in his family since his dad was 22. “So my dad got it when he was about 22ish, I don’t know exactly. He drove in it from Las Vegas where he lived with my mom, he drove in that Tahoe to Great Falls where we moved when I was like 18 months. So it’s been around for a while. [It’s] only had one previous owner before my dad, so there’s only been two owners total, which is kind of cool. For as long as I’ve been alive, it’s been around in the family,” said Morgan. Cars with lots of history behind them usually also have a lot of memories associated with them, maybe involving family, music, or something else. “So [my] favorite memory, I think, just the memory of being little and sitting in the back of the truck. Like sitting in the backseat, and just riding with my dad. I thought that was awesome

because the subs are also behind the seats so you can feel it vibrating. And it’s like this cool thing because you’re up above like other vehicles and I just remember most when I was little sitting in the backseat, like just enjoying riding with my dad,” said Morgan. Morgan isn’t the only one with good memories about his car. Maximus Dascoulias remembers the time he changed the exhaust on his car. “[My favorite memory is] probably when I first cut off the exhaust and heard the 5.0, with no mufflers or cats, that was pretty cool. It struck me a little, it was louder than I thought, sounded a little better than I thought,” said Dascoulias. Dascoulias recently became the owner of a foxbody Ford Mustang. “I was extremely excited to have a car to call my own and work on, though paying for it was obviously not fun,” said Dascoulias. Another important part of having a car is your driver’s license, the receiving of which is an important part of many students’ lives. “It was cool because I got it earlier than most. I got it in December of freshman year,” said Dascoulias. Devin Tingey is another student who got her license recently. “I was really excited that day because I’ve been wanting to get my license for a long time, and I was just excited to be able to drive places without my parents,” said Tingey. Tingey drives a 2002 Land Rover, which has been driven by all 3 of her siblings before her. “There’s a lot of dents from my siblings crashing and hitting things, and other parked cars,” said Tingey.

Maximus Dascoulias’s Foxbody Mustang. Photo by Maximus Dascoulias .

Devin Tingey with her 2002 Land Rover. Photo by Marissa McMickle.

Chase Morgan with his 1996 Chevy Tahoe. Photo by Shawn Morgan.

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“They impacted me greatly. They helped me be who I am, like they help me express myself in ways that other classes couldn’t.”

“I get to try new things out that I really like to do and explore, and when I explore I get excited, and when I get excited I’m happy.”

Carman Casas, 10 Drama, Orchestra

Maiyha Gutierrez, 11 Band

“It makes my day a lot of times better whenever I am struggling with work from other classes so I think it’s a great program to be a part of whenever you want to play or create stuff.”

Makai Higgins, 10 Orchestra

“Fine arts have impacted me all through high school just by giving me really great friends and knowing lots of people and a bunch of different musical experiences.”

Elisa Houlihan, 12 Choir

BY JESS MOORE, STAFF WRITER

“It’s a class that I don’t have to worry about being bullied by others It’s a class full of a little bit of everything a bit of people from sports, some anime watchers and others.”

Kohel Schlehr, 10 Drama

“Theater is really fun and entertaining. And if you are looking to try it out, don’t be scared and just try your best.”

Music trips on the agenda The Chanteur Choir has three overnight trips planned for this school year. They participated in the AA Choir Festival in Helena on Nov. 8-9, which was directed by Dr. Kirk Aamot of Montana State University. They will be participating in a choir festival in Kalispell in late January, performing the music of Jake Runestad and Joshua Rist with Great Falls HS, Flathead HS, and Glacier HS. Chanteur was invited to perform in March at the Northwest American Choral Directors Association (NW ACDA) conference in Spokane. Symphonic Band is planning to go on tour this spring, but according to director Christopher Kloker they have not scheduled anything else yet due to their first plan not working out. Chamber Orchestra is planning to go on a trip, but Director Steve Olson said they don’t know their destination. There is going to be a trip, he said. The Drama Thespians are going on a trip to the Montana State Thespian Convention on Feb. 4-5 at the University of Montana in Missoula. The Thespians will compete against other Montana schools by performing a 30-minute scripted play.

The fine arts have helped people in many ways -- from encouraging them to express themselves and by giving them a place to fit in. These classes might be the reason some students attend school, providing a place where they can be themselves without being judged by others.

Fine Arts Students find

The Russtones practice concert music on Dec. 12. Photo by Jessica Moore.

a reason to go to school

Cole Hufford, 9 Drama

Members of the Chanteur Choir practice for the upcoming holiday concert at the Civic Center. Photo by Jessica Moore.

Russtones bass guitarists Rory Hibbs and Onika Gray prepare for a performance. Photo by Jessica Moore.

Symphonic Band performs at the Civic Center on Dec. 13. Photo by Beth Britton.

Members of the CMR Orchestra program practice on Sept. 14. All three orchestras performed during the holiday season. Photo by Nikki Gambino.

Teacher Chris Evans helps students practice monologues. Photo by Jessica Moore.

TEEN

3in10

American girls will get pregnant at least once before they turn

Teens who are sexually active and don’t use contraceptives have a chance of becoming pregnant within a year.

90%

PREGNANCY Amber McMurphey baby Photo by Northern Montana Health

https://www.seventeen.com

“pregnancy test - negative” by Konstantin Lazorkin is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Sex educators promote abstinence BY MADISON MCMURPHEY, STAFF WRITER Babies having babies is never going to go away. As a teen seeing a positive on a test, (No not a covid test a pregnancy test) your first thought is: “Am I in trouble?” CMR staff and help from Katie Nessan from Planned Parenthood has some information. CMR’s nurse, Jennifer Gunter thinks protection and abstinence are the best when dealing with sexual activity. “If you’re not going to practice abstinence, use some sort of protection {like} condoms. You can buy them over the counter,” she said. There are other protections she adds, like birth control. You can get both birth control, and condoms at Planned Parenthood and drug stores. If you think you are pregnant, there are multiple places that have pregnancy tests. “If an individual has a positive test you should seek additional guidance through Planned Parenthood, Echos, and their primary provider,” Gunter said. The child development teacher, Jordan Clutter also thinks abstinence is the best . She thinks that it’s a choice to have a baby, and that it will drastically change the life of a teen. “It’s never what you want for a teen, but when it happens it’s just something that you have to accept,” she said. In the last 20 years, teen pregnancy has dropped and we are finding more ways to educate about the subject. Clutter wants to encourage students to

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remain abstinent and wait till they are older. “The brain isn’t fully developed until you’re at least 25, you don’t necessarily understand the consequences of your actions and before that point. Your brain isn’t developed enough to understand cause and effect,” she said. The body and the brain is not mature enough and when you do have a baby, it makes life difficult. When a student is pregnant and they go and talk to her, she always asks if mom and dad know. She encourages them to talk to her parents or counselling for other resources. “Unintended pregnancies are a reality. It’s not just teens it’s nationwide. As a community we have to figure out how we can do better,” Clutter said. Katie Nessan from Planned Parenthood also thinks abstinence is best. “Age doesn’t determine if they’re going to be a good parent,” she said. Nessan believes that having trusted adults around especially in school is good for teen moms. “Pregnancy makes a lot of changes,” Nessan said. A lot of people don’t count miscarriages and abortions. If they did, the statistics for teen pregnancy would be much higher. “Miscarriage is so common, and there are a lot of health concerns for miscarriages,” Nessan said.

“1. pregnancy” by TipsTimesAdmin is licensed under CC BY 2.0

What are your options? Teens who are sexually active have options. According to www.plannedparenthood.org, birth control or condoms are the best protection against unplanned pregnancies and STDs.The only way you are going to have 100% protection is if you don’t have sex. You always want to double up when you’re having sex, like birth control and a condom. It’s important that you make sure to use your birth control the right way. This means you cannot forget to take your pill, change your ring, or get your shot on time. So, the best method of birth control for you is one you’re always going to use correctly. If you want to find your the perfect birth control, Planned Parenthood has an online quiz that you can take to find your perfect match. If you’re pregnant, there’s always adoption and abortion, you will always have a choice.

“If your not going to practice absence use some sort of protection {like} condoms you can buy over the counter,” said Gunter

“Photo a day project: February 2006” by Jenny Lee Silver is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Teen pregnacy in the modern world.

Skyar Dillon with her baby Greyson Photo by Matt Photography My name is Skyler Dillon, and I live in Oregon. I found out I was pregnant after Christmas break last year when I couldn’t eat anything. I was throwing up constantly. My mom asked me if I was pregnant, and of course I said no. [I gave the] same answer to my uncle and my aunt – until Jan. 1. I took a test and it was very, very positive. I was terrified. I told my boyfriend first, then my aunt. She cried and said she was gonna help me. I didn’t have the courage to tell my mom, so I called her and said “please don’t be mad at me.” She knew right away I was pregnant, and my heart dropped. I told her I was and she cried also. The rest of my family didn’t find out until way later. The biggest change for me was transitioning from a runaway teen to a mother. It was scary. I had to learn how to be independent. School, work and being a mom is hard on my mental health. I’ve been judged for being a teen mom, and people always assume the dad left.

Analiese Goldinger and her baby girl bonding the day after she was born. Photo by Jamie Goldinger My name is Analiese Goldinger, and after two months of morning sickness I took a pregnancy test because me and the baby daddy suspected something. My dad was excited, and my mom wanted me to keep it. I didn’t think about abortion. A lot of things were changing me physically and mentaly because I wanted to party, and I still wanted to be a teen. I was in labor for more than 50 hours. It was so painful; I didn’t eat or sleep. Birth was the most painful and intense situation of my entire life. It feels just like getting tortured, but at the end of the day looking at her face is the best feeling I’ve ever experienced. Every time I look at [the baby] I think of how worth it it really was and the amazing little life I created. This baby brought so much positivity in my life, and my entire family loves her. Having a baby changed me into a better person overall – [my attitude] towards people and especially my own family. I appreciate my mother for how many times she had to go through pregnancy and labor. This baby brought an amazing partner into my life, and I have my amazing young little family. I couldn’t be more grateful.

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Evans marking 12th year as a CMR teacher Astronaut, engineer, football player, actor, journalist. So many career choices, so much to do, and Chris Evans wanted to do it all. Evans. the CMR drama teacher, started his journey at C. M. Russell High School, where he played football, one of the things he always wanted to do. He said he didn’t get to live out other childhood dreams, but he graduated from CMR in 1983 and attended college at the University of Montana to major in journalism. While working on this major, he was told by somebody in the department that experience would be worth a lot more than a degree, so he changed his path to theatre. Over the course of his schooling and even after, Evans said he worked many jobs, including in marketing, washing dishes, store clerk, and a job in radio. He worked as a video store clerk in Idaho, where he lived for several years after college, before returning to Missoula. When he returned to Montana, he worked as a radio host. “It was a blast,” he said. “It made me a night owl.” Well into his radio career, Evans began graduate school. After graduate school in 2009, he got a phone call from CMR that changed everything. “I got a call from one of my old teachers here. His name was Tom Spencer, and he said the drama teacher here was retiring,” he said. At the time, he was working for Missoula Children’s Theatre, and Spencer asked him to think about the possibility of returning to his alma

mater. Evans said he was willing to take the job, but there was an issue. He didn’t have the degree he needed to be able to teach. He started looking for ways to get around this, and gaining the education degree he needed. Finally, he found a way to get his education degree. He learned that you need 10,000 hours of experience to be considered a master at something. “My wife, while I was working, started counting the hours of everything I’d done since high school. She stopped at 12,000,” he said. All these hours made Evans a master of theatre arts, so he could educate others in the same field. CMR invited him for an interview, and he was selected for the job, starting in the fall of 2010. When asked whether he likes teaching, he said, “I dig it. I get to meet the best people.” However, he also said, “I didn’t think I’d make a good teacher, I wanted to act.” Evans chose to teach because he knew it would be best for his family. He chose his family over his dreams, and he says that he made the right choice. Over his years teaching, he has seen the best and worst of people. He said he’s seen kids trying their best, kids who just need someone to talk to, and kids who need a safe space. Teaching has taught him what high school is like from another perspective, and he’s content with what he does.

“I didn’t think I’d make a good teacher.”

adventures in

TEACHER Ryan Anderson: “I wanted to make movies and do digital effects.”

Cramer Caouette: He went to Montana Tech to be a geological engineer, but ultimately decided to teach.

Jeremy Comstock: He wanted to be a computer programmer.

Aaron Jensen: He had many choices. Teaching, wrestling, and law enforcement were all careers he considered.

Substitute teachers face rewards, difficulties in the job Ban said one of the main reasons he does the job is because he values what he can learn from those around him. “I like to communicate, especially with students,” Ban said. Instead of working as a full-time teacher, Ban found something that worked with his busy schedule. “I had limitations of time. I had another business,” he said. Ban has been substitute teaching off and on for around 15 years. Ban said he has followed students through the years, and is experienced with all age levels. He began his substitute teaching in elementary schools, and more recently, is specializing in middle schools and high schools. “You don’t get to know students well, but sometimes you do,” he said. “I had a [student] from 7th to 12th grade.”

they wanted to be a

Steven Hurin: He wanted to be an international criminal defense attorney.

BY CJ KIERNAN, STAFF WRITER

According to the Great Falls Public School district, a substitute teacher is someone who “[provides] instruction, [manages] the classroom environment, and [promotes] student learning in the absence of the regular classroom teacher.” The process of becoming a substitute teacher includes following duties and responsibilities listed by the district that will employ them, meeting the minimum standards and requirements, and understanding what they will have to do on a regular basis. One of the main challenges that substitute teachers have to face is dealing with the separation between them and the students. Something that is a luxury for teachers, is the daily connection they are able to build with their students. One familiar face that many Rustlers are familiar with is Joe Ban, a longtime substitute teacher in the district.

BEFORE

Watching this student mature over the years made substitute teaching more valuable for Ban, he added. Former substitute Robin Thompson of Great Falls has a different view on the job. She chose substituting over full-time teaching for the pay, not the difference in responsibilities. For one year, Thompson subbed in all grade levels. “When I substitute taught grade school, they [listened] and [they were] pretty good,” she said, adding that she didn’t like working with high school students because of their attitudes and how they treated her. It’s not an easy job at times, and the number of subs has decreased during the Covid pandemic. As a result, the district currently is looking to hire additional substitute teachers.

Warren Mayes: “I was in the Air Force for 25 years.”

Chad Olson: He wanted to teach snow skiing and water skiing.

Christopher Rawlins: “I wanted to be in the Army.” He is currently in the Army National Guard, as well as teaching at CMR.

Ashley Tait: “Actually I wanted to be a sports writer, [a journalist].”

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MENTAL

HEALTH Awareness BY JORDAN CLARK, STAFF WRITER

The feeling of being alone, scared, and even not feeling worthy enough to be here is a bigger problem today than most people are aware of, leaving many with the desire to shut down and give up on themselves in return. “It’s paralyzing, it’s distracting, it blocks us from being who we are,” Certified

41% of students suffer from depression

1 in every 5 teens and 12-18 today’s society. There are always people who will tell you or call you things you don’t want to hear. Learning how to control how that translates in your mind, however, can truly save your life. We can’t control what people say to us or what happens to us, but we can control and choose our thoughts. It all comes from the mind. Your thoughts can either impact you positively and move you further in life, or they can break you down, hold you

suffer from at least one mental health disorder.

A healthier mind is a healthier life

balanced d n a e is c r e Daily ex e best h t f o le p u o c diets are a , anxiety, s s e r t s it m li ways to . and depression

Clinical Hypnotherapist Eliza Ruys said. There’s a big question as to why this problem continues to worsen as time passes. According to Ruys, there are many people today who let the media control their thoughts. Depression and anxiety can also result from people not knowing how to solve these problems. Ruys says all humans feel emotion, but “people don’t have the tools to learn to get rid of it.” Talking to a therapist can help, instead of keeping it all to yourself. However, Ruys says that people wait until it’s really bad or too late to talk to someone. If someone can decide to get help earlier, they are more likely to get healthier. Although it can be tough, it’s really all about mentality. “They have to want to feel better,” she said. Depression and anxiety don’t have to take over our bodies, but it is our mind that allows it to get that bad. “Our thoughts generate out emotions, which generates our behavior.” Learning to control your mind can be one of the biggest cures needed in

back, and even take away part of your life. Thanks to help from people like Eliza Ruys, we can see that it is possible to get through it and according to her, “It really doesn’t have to be a problem at all.”

Photo of Nick Budeski. So many people are under stress and pressure these days, and it causes more problems than they need or can handle. According to counselor Nick Budeski, stress-related problems are definitely high on the list of student issues, and he said “we see it all the time.” Not only is this an issue at C.M.Russell High School, but this continues to be a problem for people of all ages around the world. There is not one specific cause of stress and anxiety. “I think there are multiple things that contribute to it,” Budeski says.“There is usually something in your life that is causing the depression or anxiety and there are a lot of issues with kids not coming to school because of it.” Taking a minute to do a self check, breathing, and relaxing when things get difficult is a great way to regain control of yourself instead of missing school and falling behind, he added. Everyone is different when it comes to what helps calm them down. Budeski encouraged students to find what worked for them.

Photo courtesy of Eliza Ruys.

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Been Everywhere, Belong Nowhere

Army

BY SIERRA HIGHWOOD, STAFF WRITER A life in many places, where unfamiliar faces become all the same, and you have to start your social life all over again. This is the life of a military ‘brat’, living in different states and restarting every single time that location changes.“Alaska,

1. Alaska 2. Montana 3. Virgina 4. Wyoming 5. Idaho

Air Force 1. Texas 2. Illinois 3. Florida 4. Ohio 5.Colorado

Navy

1. Georgia 2. Florida 3. Texas 4. Hawaii 5. Washington

Two model jets near the airport. Photo by Sierra Highwood.

Maryland, Georgia, Colorado Here (Montana)” was only just what one Air Force brat, Madeline Damiani, said about where she’s lived, and the Air Force isn’t known for moving its personnel around. On average, a military child will move states every 2-3 years, though this can be easily influenced by each military branch and the ranking of students’ parents. “It’s possible to have moved 10 times by the time they’re 12, and to change schools 6 to 9 times between kindergarten and high school graduation – it’s just what happens in the military,” the Website “5 facts you need to know about Military Families” reports. However, some students may not move much, including CMR Senior Amya Terry, who has moved only twice. “I grew up in Wichita, Kansas, and moved to Great Falls when I was about 11, and [I] haven’t moved since. But, when my dad retires we all plan to go to Sacramento, California, to be close to family,” Terry said.

As for members of the military, they’ll get stationed away for short periods of time, but not long enough to be considered a full move. “Let’s see, well I got to visit the Alamo, I’ve gotten to see Egypt, things I never would’ve gone to otherwise,” retired Army man Michael Highwood said. Born and raised in Montana, Highwood joined the Army in high school and stayed in for more than 20 years. He said he feels no remorse about his retirement. “The military was very controlling over my life, and I have no regrets finally leaving,” Highwood said, Restrictions on where he could move, what his facial hair was supposed to look like, how he was expected to present himself -- all expectations so present in his military life. Today, he is having new life experiences, constantly moving and shifting, with a hometown for himself that he has only now returned to in more than 20 years of service. “I remember when 10th was the scariest road I’d ever seen. Now it seems little more than your average street in many of the places I’ve lived in and visited.”

Who needs a Hometown?

Daughter of retired Navy officer nominated for a place in the Naval academy

Marines

1. Arizona 2.California 3.Florida 4.Hawaii 5.North Carolina

Coast Guard 1. California 2. Hawaii 3. Maryland 4.Virginia 5. Washington

Hannah Bingham in the CMR Hallway. Photo by Isabel Foley.

Senior Hannah Bingham has spent seven years in Great Falls after her father retired from the Navy. Bingham has been nominated for admission to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. She is looking to following in her father’s footsteps, as he himself graduated from the Naval Academy. He went on to work as a doctor in the Navy. Bingham has vivid memories of living in Bethesda, Maryland, where her father was stationed at the National Naval Military Medical Center. There are other reasons that Bingham is interested in the Navy, however. “It’s not about yourself. It’s about working as a team for your nation,” Bingham said. She described the eternally lit flame at the academy, finding it meaningful and inspiring

to represent all the fallen Navy sailors who graduated from the academy. “It’s not an experience just about you. It’s about being part of something bigger than yourself,” she said. Inspired by watching the Naval Academy football team play, and her father’s work, Bingham has long held a desire to be a member of the Navy, adding that she loves being on base and just the military life in general. “It would definitely mean a lot – being given that opportunity,” she said “He would be very proud of me, of any decision I made and wherever I went.”

Dawson Williams’ picture taken after he got his pilot’s license. Photo courtesy of Dawson Williams.

Student pilot earns nomination to U.S. Air Force Academy

Senior Dawson Williams has spent the past four years as a member of the JROTC program, but with the help of Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) and a lot of hard work on Williams’ part, he may be headed to the Air Force Academy in Colorado. Last week, Tester nominated Williams for the honor. Now, it is up to Williams to gain additional nominations and finish the application process. “I’m really putting my best foot forward with this,” he said. Letters of acceptance are sent out in March, he added. Williams is not the first in his family to pursue a career in the military. He said his great-grandfather was a pilot in Vietnam, and his father retired from the Air Force. His uncle served with the Air National Guard. It’s a longstanding military tradition that I’d like to continue,” he said. “I’d be the first in my family to attend a service academy.” Six months ago, Williams earned his pilot’s license. “I’d definitely like to be a pilot,” he said. “It’s a thrill, but with that thrill comes a lot of responsibility.”

BY EMILY CARTER, STAFF WRITER

experience

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Choir

Amaya Theus, a senior at C.M.Russell High School, has been in choir class for six years, but it wasn’t her first choice in music. “It’s just fun. I love my teachers, I used to do band and orchestra, [but] choir was it for me,” Theus said. In middle school, she played the clarinet. Although she misses it, she said choir has become her comfort place. According to Theus, teacher Lynn Ryan makes the class fun and engaging for her, which allows students to create new music. She said, “What makes it more fun is her and just also learning new things because we study all types of different languages,” she said. The languages they learn for music include Hebrew and Latin. “We just work on reading our music, first learning how to say

Band

Thinking the trumpet would be easier to play and learn but later found out that it can be one of the most difficult instruments to master, as a junior, Mikenzie Dato stuck to it and was able to get through the challenges of performing with it for seven years. “It’s something you get to enjoy and get to enjoy it with other people,” Dato said. She doesn’t participate in only one group. She shows her passion for music as a member of Symphonic Band, the Russtones, and in pep band. Being in band for so many years, people go through challenges

Orchestra

A junior at C.M.Russell High School, Ayden King has played the violin for seven years and is currently in Concert orchestra. He said he chose the violin because his older sister played the instrument, and it sparked a new interest in him at a young age. “Music is interesting to me because it allows me to create something and express myself,” King said. His musician interest did not stop with the violin, however. King also plays the guitar on various occasions. Every instrumentalist faces challenges while playing, and then there are some things that other players pay attention to more. “The part that I focus on the most

Choir students during period 7 are going over new music. Photo by Jessica Moore the words,” she said. To help learn new languages, the singers rehearse every day, practicing the pronunciation. Eventually, the musicians don’t need their music in front of them to be able to sing the piece. “It’s not very difficult at all,” Theus said. “You rehearse it over and over again so then you just learn it. It just stays in the head and we practice with music and without the music in our hands and you just learn it.” Her favorite genre of music to sing is pop music during the annual CMR pop concert. She said she enjoys this concert the most because the audience also knows the songs, and some of them like to almost bob their heads to the beat.

that happen in every new piece of music. The two things that every performer has to work on is rhythm and the correct notes in the music. “It’s kind of hand in hand. I can’t really focus on one or the other,” Dato said. “It kind of just all comes together [in the end].” Dato said she mostly likes to play Christmas music because it is more enjoyable. In pep band, she said she likes to play at the football games and basketball games because the musicians get to play newer music, which is a challenge for them to be able to perform.

is the rhythm because without the rhythm the whole piece falls apart,” he said. Rhythm can be one of the most difficult things in a new piece of music, he said, which makes it even more important to get it correct. As he tries to get through these challenges with the rhythm, he breaks it down measure by measure and plays it at a slower tempo than the original tempo. When it comes to playing different types of music, King said he likes to play any genre. The genres that he likes to play the most are pop, punk, grunge, and metal, which are played outside of school.

Fun Facts Ayden King practices his violin. Photo by Emily Carter.

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Fine bows that are made for string instruments can use up tp 150 horse hairs

Trumpet players are practicing their Christmas music. Photo by Emily Carter If you stretched the tubing of a trumpet, it would reach about six and a half feet

Mikenzie Dato practices in jazz band. Photo by Emily Carter.

Period 7 choir class is going over music for their next concert. Photo by Jessica Moore An a cappella was first founded in the 15th century around the time of the composer Josquin des Prez. It is choral music without any other instruments other than the human voice, each voice in the group singing a different pitch or a different rhythm. All of these put together, makes a beautiful performance Sources; https://www.britannica.com/art/a-cappella https://www.ducksters.com/musicforkids/ how_string_instruments_work.php Steve Olson helps his students get a better hold on the rhythm in the music Photo by Emily Carter.

https://www.omahaschoolofmusicanddance. com/our-blog/random-interesting-factsabout-brass-instruments/

t r a p t s r

o w The BY ISABEL FOLEY, PHOTO EDITOR Book banning is one of the most prevalent occurrences of censorship in our world. One English teacher helped shed some light on the issue. “If we start, you know, banning books and somebody decides that we shouldn’t read about this or read about that, before long, somebody is really going to be controlling access to knowledge. And yeah, I think it’s dangerous,” Holly Ingeman said. Ingeman has been teaching English for 19 years. She said that in her time at CMR, she only remembers one book ever being challenged, it was removed from grade school libraries but remained on highschool library shelves. Ingeman added that ultimately she believes in the right to choose reading material. “I think people should be able to read what they want,” Ingeman said, adding that most books she hears about people trying to ban, they have never read. “I think a lot of the things that people want banned, they have never read and I think that’s a problem,” Ingeman said. She added that she is extremely grateful to live in a place that doesn’t have a history of book banning and advised schools that are struggling with book censorship to keep fighting. “I just hope people continue to read. We have to have good English teachers, good librarians. We have to be strong voices that won’t back down from the fight,” she said, adding that she encourages everyone to read more, even if it makes you uncomfortable.

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s I p i h s r so

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Censorship Across Subjects

“I think we continue to read my students when I taught graphic good books. I think we continue to design. I would have them do a political make them available. [We] have to propaganda piece that reflected their educate ourselves,” Ingeman said. views, and now I’m not comfortable Book censorship is not the doing that at all,” Jacobs said. only form of censorship we face today; Comparatively, United States another teacher shares her opinions on history teacher Burke Allen thinks, censorship in Art. “Ideally, what we should be doing is “Recently, I had a girl, she did providing multiple perspectives on a nude figure and instead of nipples she what happened in history, and allowing had flowers. And the male associate students to form their own opinions.” principals were just very uncomfortable Allen said that America has had many with it so we didn’t display it,” Art teacher instances of censorship, directly Tess Jacobs said, adding that she contradicting what the first amendment encourages says. her students “The First “If we start, you know, banning to speak up Amendment if they feel books and somebody decides is supposed s t r o n g l y that we shouldn’t read about this to guarantee about having b a s i c their art or read about that, before long, f u n d a m e n t a l displayed. somebody is really going to be rights of speech and press, but J a c o b s controlling access to knowledge. there have c o n t r i b u t e d And yeah, I think it’s dangerous.” been numerous that most t i m e s Holly Ingeman of the throughout problem with the American displaying students artwork has to do experience that we’ve seen, people with nudity, and the way we view the have been not allowed to speak what body. they felt,” Allen said, explaining one “We [have changed] our instance of this was the Alien and attitudes about our bodies, instead of Sedition acts, making it illegal to speak celebrating the beauty, we are told we out against the government. should be ashamed of it,” Jacobs said. Allen said other instances of She added that a more recent issue censorship have occurred during waraffecting her classes is the political time. divide. “We’ve also seen the times of “Just a few years ago, it war, the freedom of speech has been was very common to do a political taken away and freedom of press has propaganda piece. I did that with been limited,” Allen said. Allen added

that one of his main tenets when teaching is to never let his own opinions influence those of his students. “One thing that I have adhered to from the beginning of my career is I don’t want my students to know where I stand politically,” Allen said, adding, “It is very important for teachers to check their own political beliefs at the door because you have an opportunity to really just destroy the classroom culture if you come into a classroom and start telling students what to believe about politics, current events, et cetera.” Likewise, Drama Teacher Chris Evans values his students’ education as well as the material itself. “I know what I should do, which ultimately is what increases the education of the students coming in,” Evans said, adding that with this in mind, he has put on plays that have elicited uncertainty. “I still did some stuff that caused a little bit of a stir. There was a play called 26 pebbles that we did a while ago. And it was about how Newtown came back from the shooting back in 2016,” Evan said. He said that before putting on the play he had many people asking if he was sure, but he said he stuck to it because he believed in the message of the play. Evans said that he has never been censored but he understands that the school respects responsibility, and knows there are plays he will never be able to put on. However he said he will always push for what he believes in. “If you believe in the message, fight for it as much as you can.”

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Most common reasons books are challenged Information from American Library assosiation, built using wordart.com

Artwork students elected to not display in the gallery. Photos courtesy of Tess Jacobs

Photo by Isabel Foley

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MY LIFE UNCENSORED

The human brain is fascinating, complex and malleable, for better or for worse. One teacher helped explain exactly why people censor each other. “We censor each other because we are susceptible to believing things and doing things based on peer pressure,” Brian Greenwell said. Greenwell has been teaching psychology for 26 years and studying it all his life. He said that as humans we are very impressionable, especially as kids while the brain is still forming. “At school, we have to censor certain subjects because the maturity of the young adult mind or the young person isn’t ready to handle that,” he said, adding that this is not always the case, and that many students can understand incredibly difficult subjects despite their age. “So, older people always think they’re the smartest people in the room, I learned a long time with teaching. That’s not true. There’s some brilliant kids that can wrap their minds around abstract thought processing,” he said, adding that parents may not want their children learning something that could challenge their own mindset. He said that when it comes to adults, censorship happens for a very different reason. “If we’re talking about young people we’re protecting, If we’re talking about adults, we’re trying to control the agenda, we’re trying to dictate the path, we’re trying to dictate the doctrine of what we want, because we’re trying to benefit ourselves,” Greenwell said. Greenwell also adds that censorship can be derived to the conscious and unconscious mind. He believes society will censor what they believe you are not ready for, or to influence what you think. “It’s all about control.”

PSYCHOLOGY

Photo by Isabel Foley

Photos imitating a florida yearbook that edited a girl’s photo to make it more modest

BY ISABEL FOLEY, PHOTO EDITOR Growing up, I was instilled with the belief that it was my right to form whatever belief I wished. I was allowed to read anything, watch anything, and as I got older I realized that this was not the case for everyone. This revolution came partly because I went to a private school for the majority of my formative years and while my peers were limited on what they could and couldn’t read, I was not. In middle school, some of my classmates could only read what their parents considered age appropriate, I was, for the most part, unrestricted. I read To Kill a Mockingbird, Devil in the White City, Looking for Alaska, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and other books of the like, most of which were considered quite controversial. All of these books required a permission slip from my parents in order for me to be allowed to read them at all. My parents thought nothing of me reading these books, my insatiable appetite for reading was certainly nothing new. In school, everything was taught through a religious lense, causing me to crave any other viewpoints I could get my hands on. This manifested even more as I got older, and I started to see the cracks and faults in the institutions I had been raised in. I began to question everything, and I formed my own belief systems, mostly through literature. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a mostly uncensored upbringing, I know many people who, as teens, can still only watch PG-13 movies. Our entire world is censored , all to prevent people from forming their own opinions. This is especially true when it comes to politics and religion. Many parents do not want their children to read anything opposing their own political or religious beliefs, in order to ensure that their children grow up believing what is “right”. Instead of letting their children grow and discover what they believe as individual humans, parents often tell their children what to believe. This carries over to society as a whole where other people decide what we can and cannot view, we grade our movies on how old you should be to see them when in all reality life is R rated. Libraries can’t carry books because of controversial subjects that are discussed. In some countries news outlets are told what to publish by the government. Our world is plagued by censorship and many people refuse to see it. This may eventually lead to even more censorship and it already is, with banned books becoming more and more common, stricter ratings, and not enough people challenging censorship in their consumption of media and entertainment.