CMR Stampede February 2017

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State-bound Rustler girls complete crosstown sweep of Bison; boys fall to GFH for a second time this season

The Stampede

Stampede -- Feb. 23, 2017

WHAT’S INSIDE

C. M. Russell High School Great Falls, MT February 23, 2017 Vol. 52 Issue 6 www.rustlernews.com

8 To fund or not to fund: Staff writers debate the merits of Planned Parenthood

17

Twenty One Pilots concert proves inspirational

An open forum for student expression since 1965

24

English teacher combats plastic pollution with bamboo straws

S The Stampede

C. M. Russell High School Great Falls, MT February 23, 2017 Vol. 52 Issue 6 www.rustlernews.com

The Stampede staff strives to produce a publication that is relevant to the CMR student body while maintaining journalistic standards. We help to provide a free exchange of ideas and establish a student voice in the school community.

opinion editor Jessica Banks features editor Clara McClain entertainment editor Quincy Schmechel

Banks and Julia Gremaux.

Art above by Claire Grandone

TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS

3 -- Katelyn’s column, Intro to Education\, Beck’s longterm sub, scheduling 4 -- Max Sechena appointment 5 -- Student teachers, Graduation Matters 6 -- State DECA, Speech and Debate, cell phone ban

OPINION

7 -- Jessica’s column, editorial, art school 8 -- Planned Parenthood Faceoff 9 -- Single on Valentine’s Day, concessions

ENTERTAINMENT

15 -- Quincy’s column, Valentine’s Day 16 - Color Guard, drum line 17 -- 21 Pilots concert, album reviews 18 -- AA Orchestra, choir tour 19 -- Pep assembly

SPORTS

FEATURES

20 -- Ashton’s column, female wrestling, stairs 21 -- Crosstown and state swimming 22 -- State wrestling

CENTER

24 Plastic pollution

10 -- Clara’s column, early grads, Brenda Huston 23 -- Preseason sports, Wranglers 11 -- Dog sledding, Colby Falkenhagen BACK PAGE 12-13 -- Native American Immersion Program 14 -- Teen rodeo queen

State basketball is better with CMR in the mix

sports editor Ashton Palen online editor Isaiah Vang

adviser Beth Britton

photo editor Julia Gremaux

principal Kerry Parsons

business manager Emily Cappis

Cover photo of senior Tristin Achenbach by Julia Gremaux.

Editor-in-Chief

news editor Katelyn Morley

staff writers Amanda Cornwall Andrew Aron Aurora Oden Chloe Geary Gabrielle Pope Hannah Pate Hannah Pospisil Ian Kaiser Lexi Bako McKenzie Connell Sarah Ljunggren Zach Mell

TOP RIGHT: The pep assembly gets competitive on Feb. 21 as seniors circle to protect their win. TOP LEFT: Wranglers wave their pom-poms dancing away at the Feb. 4 girls basketball game. Photos by Jessica

MackenzieGeorge

editor-in-chief Mackenzie George

Art below by Jillian Conley

Crosstown basketball is one of CMR’s time-honored traditions that has become a staple of the student body. One can always rely on a crowded student section and a booming pep band. And on the girls’ side, we can now start relying on some wins.

For the first time in years, the girls basketball team swept the Bison this season in crosstown matchups. The first, held Jan. 12 at Great Falls High, was a barn burner, with CMR pulling away with the win 47-44. The highlight of that game was big shooting by the Rustlers -- the majority of senior Mady Skawinski’s 20 points were from three-pointers.

The Feb. 10 game wasn’t nearly that close. With a home court advantage, the girls shut down a Bison squad that placed second at state last year 56-31. Head coach Brian Crosby emptied the bench with a minute to play.

The Rustlers worked as a team -- three players scored in double digits -- and strong defense shut down GFH, holding MSU Billings-bound guard Hannah Collins to just 15 points.

The atmosphere in the Thunderdome was indescribable on Friday night.

It only seems to be getting better for the Rustlers, who toppled Billings West last Friday and previously-top-seeded Bozeman the next day. Now CMR sits atop the Eastern Conference and have a ticket to the state tournament with two games remaining in the regular season.

Beating the Bozeman Hawks, a seemingly constant fixture to the top of any AA standing, is a reminder of just how well CMR can do in the upcoming state tournament.

The boys aren’t out of the running, either. They took down Bozeman over the weekend as well and with their 8-11 record could still go to state.

Put March 9-11 on your calendars, CMR. The state tournament is in town. Now that it’s a sure thing that the Rustlers will be on the hardwood, let’s make sure the stands are filled with Rustlers, too.

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

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Education Class to be offered at CMR

Intro to Education an attempt to combat shortage of teachers in GFPS

by Lexi Bako, staff writer Of the few new classes offered for the 2017-18 school year, intro to education is set to be one of the most beneficial for the future.

“It was an idea that recently came from Superintendent Tammy Lacey in order to try to address the teacher shortage issues,” said Burke Allen.

Allen is a history teacher at CMR and plans to teach the upcoming class intro to education. To teach this class Allen has a master’s in education leadership.

The course is open to juniors and seniors as dual credit.

“We’re trying to make it so the course will be accepted in all the in state universities and in state colleges as an education credit,” Allen said.

The class is built so students continue onto college to be a teacher.

“A lot of times when students are considering education, when they get to college they might take a similar class, like an intro class, but sometimes they don’t and they don’t actually get into education careers till down the road,” he said The class differs from most in the way the class is taught, much

of the learning is in on the job experience.

“It will be a pretty steep learning curve, with the students getting out to the elementary and middle schools and do some observations, and job shadows,” Allen explained.

Kayla Underwood is a CMR junior and is taking the upcoming class.

“I want to become an elementary teacher so I kind of thought it was the perfect opportunity for me,” Underwood said.

Being a student and taking classes to prepare for college is a challenge, but comes with valuable benefits. Underwood explains how being in this class is an opportunity for experience and seeing how the actual job will feel.

Underwood has plans for her future after CMR. “I’m planning on staying in town and going to going to the COT for two years, then hopefully transferring to Billings or Bozeman.”

“So it’s kind of an eyes wide open class as far as, this is what you can expect and some politics behind it and how hard the job can be and how little pay you can expect in the beginning,” Allen says, adding,”I’m very excited to be teaching the course.”

Student scheduling for 2017-2018 goes smoothly

News Editor

KatelynMorley

by Hannah Pospisil, staff writer For some, scheduling for the upcoming year can be a tedious process. For others, it is an easy and exciting look at the upcoming year.

Sophomore Emme Smith is transferring from CMR to Central next year, and her scheduling process has been a breeze.

“I already planned all of my classes for next year just in case I’m still here but if I transfer to Central next year I’ll just have to switch my classes there,” Smith said when talking about the switch.

Some people have a difficult time transitioning schools because there are few possible mishaps that can happen, so it’s always good to have a backup plan in case complications occur.

Junior Courtney Simpson also had a simple and easy scheduling experience.

“It went well, I wasn’t confused and I had no questions,” Simpson said.

CMR has a variety of classes, and luckily, scheduling went well for most students this year.

“I’m really impressed [with the class options CMR provides],” she said.

And if you have any questions about scheduling, all you have do so is simply go to your counselor and tell them your concerns.

Prospective teachers will enjoy Burke Allen’s new education class, a new addition to the CMR student course catalogue. Photo by Mackenzie George.

Nifty substitute takes over

by McKenzie Connell, staff writer Foundations of Science teacher Mike Beck has a subsitute from Jan. 30 to March 1, and Jason Merriman gladly stepped into room 322 for the month.

“I like it because it’s engaging,” Merriman said.

He has long-term subbed before, and has taught Foundations of Science for long term, too. He said he loves being able to teach. “[My favorite experience is] seeing the expression when a kid finally learns something new,” he said. Merriman likes to add a fun spin on teaching his classes, and his reputation brings the word, “nifty”, to the joy of everyone in the class. The only reason why is because of kids’ reactions, he said.

The freshman class will be expecting lots of jokes and “nifty” gifts, which Merriman provides.

“It’s different. But it’s nice to have a different teacher,” freshman Kaylee Karjala said.

For student Kayla Hibbert, it’s a good learning experience to see how someone else teaches the same subject. While she misses Beck, Merriman is a great substitute. “[I love] how he annoys everybody,” Hibbert said.

“I’m a science teacher. I love it,” Merriman said.

Students tackling anxiety and depression need empathy Lately it’s been common to read or hear statistics about how anxiety and depression has risen over the years. The facts have made appearances in the news and even in schools. These facts and statistics haven’t just been for adults; they have shown up for teenagers just as often.

As much as everyone is made aware of the fact that our age group is struggling with these issues, there is little being done about it. I understand that nobody’s perfect and people can only do so much. However, if only a few people are taking actions to help these individuals then how will anything get done?

I’ve noticed that people talk about how they feel they’re depressed or have anxiety or even other personal issues. But they don’t ask for help, and it’s completely understandable that it is hard to go to someone to help with these feelings and issues.

However, if you are willing to talk about it openly in class then one should go talk to a parent, friend, teacher, or counselor instead. Talking to someone trustworthy helps individuals get through these issues whether they be temporary or something that

needs to be worked on over time with different methods.

Anxiety, like depression, is serious whether people realize it or not. It is something that is extremely hard to control and deal with. For many people it’s challenging to find what triggers their anxiety. If others would notice the symptoms then more people could get help.

It’s scary to think that even with all our new medical technology and knowledge more could be done to address these issues and other mental illnesses. I think that our society needs to take more time to learn about anxiety and depression so we can help people through it.

It will also help to notice the signs of these cases as some don’t recognize that it is even happening to them. So instead of sitting around acting like it doesn’t exist we should take the time to learn about it and do something for the people living through anxiety and depression.

4 S News CMR senior appointed to prestigious academies February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

Max Sechena decides between Naval Academy & West Point

Senior Max Sechena holds his two acceptance letters, one from West Point and one from the Naval Academy.

Photo courtesy of Max Sechena.

by Hannah Pate, staff writer As the year starts to wrap up, many seniors are feeling the pressure. Senioritis is settling in, as many are making decisions on the future- whether that includes a higher education or not.

For one senior, Max Sechena, the stakes this year have been especially high. This last July, he started applying to two prestigious military academies: West Point and the United States Naval Academy.

He was always planning on going into the military, and wants to be an officer.

One of his grandparents served in the Korean war, and another in World War II. However, he says this did not influence or spark his decision-as the Armed Forces aren’t really a family tradition.

“I eventually decided on going to a military academy,” Sechena said.

He received the first letter of appointment, from the United States Naval Academy in mid-January. Two weeks later, he also received a letter notifying him of his appointment to the United States Military Academy, also known as West Point.

Both colleges are known for their rigor and reputation, West Point having an acceptance rate of only 10% and the Naval Academy only 9%.The process for admission includes both Cascadeapplying County DUI Task Force to the school, being accepted by the school, and then having to be Congressionally appointed.

“Good grades, fitness assessments, the ACT/SAT, a resume, personal statements to both academies, medical evaluations…”

Sechena listed the processes he went through for admission.

Once accepted, the hard work doesn’t stop. He is currently training physically for boot camp, and must keep his GPA high He has recently decided on attending the United States Military Academy, located in West Point, New York. This decision did not, however, come without stress and concentrated thought on the future.

“Where do I want to be in 10 to 15 years, long term? I want to serve the full twenty years. The Army is more structured, and there is faster progression and is something I think I could stick with,” Sechena said.

He says he feels some anxiety about the academy, with its monumental and notable alumni.

“I’m following in the footsteps of some of the greatest military generals that have walked the earth,” he said.

With appointment, Sechena receives a full-tuition waiver, room and board, medical coverage, and a monthly stipend that progresses with him. He says he is looking forward to attending a school that is resemblant to the most reputable universities in the nation.

“They are rated close to ivy league and you’re getting it for your five year commitment,” he said.

Overall, he says he feels a huge sense of accomplishment and pride. His parents are proud, slightly nervous but extremely Name; Julia G happy.

“It’s four years of work and a lifetime of dreams coming together.” Sechena said.

You’re not just hurting yourself...

Montana has been in the top 3 to 5 states Be safe or Beimpaired. sorry in the regards to driving

your If any change isWhat’s to take place, it mustplan? come from you, a mental shift to make the change happen. Until .

A message brought to you by the Cascade County DUI Task Force then, you will be hearing the same old message to never drive impaired time and time again.

What’s your plan?

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Febuary 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

News

Student teachers bring new perspectives to the classroom

by Clara McClain, features editor

Student teacher Teressa Bradley discovered her passion for science when she was young, but figured out she wanted to teach later on in her education. Now she’s helping pass along that passion with Tom Cubbage, teaching biology 1-2 and AP biology.

Her love of science started in fifth grade when she met her high school science teacher, Steve Bell at Star Day. Her sorority at MSU Bozeman, Pi Beta Phi, went to kindergarten classes and help the students through a reading unit, and that is where she discovered her love of teaching and helping kids reach their potential.

She said she loves to think of the Nelson Mandela quote, “Education is the most powerful weapon that we can use to change the world,” as an inspiration for what she aspires to do as a teacher.

Teressa Bradley

Kim McIntyre is CMR’s newest addition to the math department as a student teacher working with Kerry Bjornstad and Jetta Slater. She is earning a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics education. McIntyre is adding that degree to her two other degrees in natural resources and urban planning from the University of Michigan.

“When I first started college, I took teaching courses, but life took me in a different direction for a while,” she said.

McIntyre fell into teaching as a parent.

“I accidentally fell into homeschooling my kids, and when they graduated high school I missed it,” McIntyre said.

So she took to Western Governors University, an online school based in Salt Lake City.

McIntyre chose an online university so she could take advantage of scheduling her own time for classes and a more cost effective way of furthering her education.

Kim McIntyre

Handling teenagers in an English classroom isn’t quite as easy as EvaLee Erwin first thought it would be.

“You guys are young adults. I think it’s a rite of passage to be [a handful],” Erwin said.

This isn’t deterring Erwin from getting a degree in secondary education double majoring in English.

“I like teaching,” she said. “I like working with young people even though it’s more work than I originally thought.”

Erwin is attending Grand Canyon University, an online college as the classes are condensed into eight weeks, so she can get through her education quicker and on her own schedule. Working with Rene Cleveland is a good push for Erwin as well.

“The environment here is great. I love my classes and working with Mrs. Cleveland; she definitely keeps me working hard,” she said.

EvaLee Erwin

Photos by Clara McClain.

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Graduation matters motivates the school

Program works to help students to graduation day

by Katelyn Morley and Zach Mell, news editor and staff writer After five years, counselor Brittany Light is still enthusiastic about Graduation Matters. When the program started at CMR, former principal Dick Kloppel asked her to work with the students involved.

“The goal is to increase awareness of the importance of graduating,” she said.

The program focuses on helping students reach graduation on time. They also work with fellow students to gain a perspective of why some drop out. The group also works to find what barriers students face, so that they can help them break through those barriers, Light said.

“Positive peer pressure goes a long ways,” she said.

Due to this idea of positive peer pressure, the program has worked in different ways to get its message out. The statistics for Montana show just how much they have helped cut the dropout rate in half. As the school continues to raise awareness of graduation they are doing different things to make a difference.

This year they focused on Graduation Matters week, along with promoting their group by walking in the Homecoming parade while holding their banners proudly and showing off their T-shirts, Light said.

“Graduation does matter,” she said.

Just like Light has a role as a leader in the program, freshman Storm St. Germain shares leadership within the group.

This program has given her the ability to voice her opinions and make a difference, Germain said.

“It’s shown me how to be a leader and commit to my school,” she said.

It all began in fifth grade for her when the program first started. She was chosen to participate, and they were taking only four children out of two schools in each district to join the program.

The program is continually motivating her to make it to graduation, Germain said.

“In Graduation Matters I am our voice,” she said.

The class of 2016 celebrates their success.

Thirty-four students dropped out in the 2015-2016 year.

Photos by Julia Gremaux.

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News

SPEECH

& DEBATE

by Gabrielle Pope, staff writer For speech and debate members Maura Hodges and Logan Stene, the club is more than just getting in front of people and arguing your point.

“I really like all the time I get to spend with my teammates and I really like the overall practice of public speaking,” Hodges said. Stene agrees with the fact that being part of speech and debate can improve a lot of things and allows you to do great things.

“I’ve stayed with speech and debate because I enjoy being in the environment that it offers and being with the friends that I made doing debate,” he said.

Hodges chooses to do speech for a lot of reasons but mainly for the ability to express her opinion and personality more.

“I do speech. I really enjoy it just because I can express my personality more, and you have to be really smart to do debate,” she said.

On the other side of the spectrum are the debaters.

“I prefer debate over speech because you have the opportunity to argue with your opponent, which I enjoy very much,” Stene said.

“Sadly state didn’t go as planned, we didn’t make it as far as we would’ve liked to,” he added.

Hodges made it to semifinals as number 7 and left number 11, which means she was just a few places away from making it.

“Breaking into semifinals really brings up your hopes so it’s hard to go in without expecting anything,” she said.

Hodges has faced the struggle of being on the verge of placing times before and recognizes it as her biggest struggle.

“Overall my biggest struggle is constantly being on the verge of placing.

So that’s pretty frustrating for me,” she said.

Stene faced interpretation struggles at state as well.

“The biggest struggles I’ve faced this season were the losses that my partner and I received after we thought that we did so well after debates,” he said.

Although there are some struggles and hard parts of speech and debate there are a lot of reasons that they stay in it.

“I’ve been doing debate since sophomore year. I enjoy when you’re able to get up and give your speech then just argue with your opponent,” Stene said.

Hodges believes that there are a lot of aspects to speech and debate.

“It’s so much more than just getting up and giving a speech to people.

You build great relationships with teammates, coaches, even the people you compete with, and you get to travel so much and have fun experiences, plus it totally destroys any fear of talking in front of others.”

February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

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DECA takes a leap in state

by Gabrielle Pope,staff writer Senior and first year member Leonard Ormseth found loads of success in his first state DECA convention on Feb. 12-14 in Great Falls.

“I just went in full send,” he said. Ormseth found that the competition wasn’t as business dependent as he thought it would be. He knew that there would be some business terminology and some business ideas that he has to know, but he said he was surprised by how little he had to know business-wise.

“If you are good at talking and confident in what you’re saying, you’ll do good in DECA,” he said.

Ormseth’s parents own a business, Shortgrass Web Development, which started up his inquiries in business as well as having friends who were in the club.

“You just have to be good at thinking on your feet and be able to problem solve,” he said. Ormseth really enjoyed the DECA experience as a whole. He said he enjoyed being with friends as well as competing in events, and he just wishes that he had participated in more events as it was his last year .

He is undecided if he wants to pursue business as a career, although he did place second in finals and qualified for nationals in his single role play event.

“I guess it would be cool to take over my parents’ business, but I kind of want to do something different; make a name for myself,” he said.

Ormseth does well thinking by himself, and doesn’t benefit from the reassurance of another, but senior DECA president Quincey Borggard is glad to have her companion Sydney Dickinson competing with her.

“I think Sydney and I were pretty confident in all three events,” she said. They competed in Ad Campaign, and two role play events that are Buying and Merchandising, as well as Travel and Tourism. They ended up qualifying for nationals in all three events.

With both girls going to Nationals last year for DECA they felt a lot more comfortable and confident in what they were doing this year.

“Sydney and I work really well together; we work as a very effective team,” she said.

Borggard was most proud of all of the events that qualified for finals this year, individually and as a team.

This year as president she feels like she holds a few more responsibilities but doesn’t think that a whole lot has changed. She just feels like she knows what she is doing more so than last Top: Senior Leonard Ormseth waits for the motivational year. speaker, Kyke Willkom, to come Borggard likes how the club puts on stage. things in a real world setting,allowing Bottom: DECA office members members to deal with problems that Trisha Carlson, Quincey they might actually come across in a Borggard and Sydney Dickinson job. interact before the speech starts “I really enjoy how DECA prepares at the Best Western Heritage you for future careers and not just in Inn on Feb. 12, 2017. Photos

by Gabrielle Pope. business, but in everything,” she said.

GF Representative opposes citywide cell phone ban at the state level

Rep. Jeremy Trebas of HD 25, a freshman lawmaker, has been serving in the Montana Legislature for a little over a month. Photo; MT Legislature

by Hannah Pate,Staff Writer One Representative from Great Falls has especially been busy lately, in more ways than one. Rep. Jeremy Trebas (R) of House District 25 is the primary sponsor of HB 194, which is a bill that would prohibit local restrictions on electronic devices while driving if passed.

Great Falls has a city-wide ordinance prohibiting cell-phone usage when driving, with the exception of non-handheld devices such as bluetoothenabled devices. However, Trebas considers this ban unnecessary and ineffective in the battle against distracted driving since testifying in front of the Great Falls City Commission in 2012.

“There is lots of anecdotal evidence, but it isn’t backed by science,” Trebas said. “As far as cell phone ordinances go, it says that they don’t reduce collision rates.”

He considers the current ban’s punishments to be too severe, considering the lack of evidence that it is actually helping reduce accidents. In Great

Falls, the first offense fines can be up to $500, while the third offense could mean the loss of license or license plates for the offender.

“I think it is unfortunate that we are fining people, and giving them community service and their license plates and license suspended. I think those are pretty harsh penalties for one narrow scope of distracted driving, when the bans have not shown to be effective,” Trebas said.

This is not the only bill Rep. Trebas is working on though, he is currently using his background with the Great Falls Rescue Mission to assist the passing of HB 166.

The bill would revise laws relating to the donation of game meat for non-profit meal distribution, which currently state that game meat may be handed out to participants to serve their own kitchen, but not in the nonprofits’.

S Opinion Editorial Policy 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 copy 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 reserve 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 Montana Journalism Education Association, the National Scholastic Press Association, the Journalism Education Association and Quill and Scroll.

Some material courtesy of American Society of Newspaper Editors/KRT Campus High School Newspaper Service.

February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

Loitering and littering reflects on school Walking through the parking lot up to the school building you weave around piles of fast food bags and cups. Then you walk past the garbage can overflowing with wrappers and old homework assignments. Even though littering and loitering happen in high schools, often these issues still must be addressed.

Littering anywhere is disrespectful to the entire school, and it is hurtful to the environment. Just because it happens other places doesn’t mean it should be accepted or ignored From at CMR. When people drive by and see garbage point of view littering the parking lots, it sheds a bad light on the school. It looks trashy, and to outsiders it appears as if nobody cares about the school, which is not true for a majority of the individuals at CMR. When local residents and visitors think that the student body doesn’t care about the school it generates an image of disrespect.

However, most students don’t disrespect the school, but those who choose to be lazy and leave garbage on the ground reflect the student body as a whole.

There are easily accessible garbage cans in each parking lot to ensure that the trash goes to the right spot and does not make the school look disgusting.

Along with littering there has been an increase in the number of people loitering in the school’s parking lot after normal hours.

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Students are sitting in their cars for hours after school and driving through the parking lots recklessly.

This causes hazards that the school is liable for, but the administration is not around to protect from possible accidents due to the late hours.

These actions also disrupt neighborhood residents when they are trying to enjoy some time at home and they hear people driving around and honking in the nearby parking lot.

Photo by Julia Gremaux.

We understand that sometimes it may be hard to make sure your garbage gets in the trash can because of the wind. However, a way to help this would be to make sure it is fully in the trash so it doesn’t blow all over the lot. Also instead of just throwing things on the ground invest the few seconds of extra time to put the wrappers and bags of food into the many trash cans on campus. This doesn’t take much time or effort, and this action will help the environment along with our

Senior debates merits of different schooling options

by Amanda Cornwall, staff writer When the time to pick colleges came about, I was, admittedly, a little bit terrified.

But, not for the classic reasons. I was totally ready to take the next step in my future and ready to face it head-on, so it’s not like I was afraid of becoming an adult. I was afraid of telling people that I wanted to go to art school instead of a traditional college.

I’ve been in love with art since I was little, both traditional drawing and photography.

Art was, and is, the one thing I can consistently devote 100 percent of myself to, and I don’t think that will ever change.

But when junior year of high school rolled around and I told people that I wanted

to go to art school I got pretty one-sided reactions. Some people told me it was great that I wanted to “follow my dreams,” but the majority of people were completely opposed to the idea, on the basis that, “art school isn’t real school and you’ll never have a real job.”

Ouch.

Sure, an animator doesn’t make as much as a surgeon, and a photographer doesn’t make as much as a lawyer, but it’s not always just about the money. If someone is really, truly in love with their chosen arts career, they’ll find a way to make the money situation work.

I want to be a photographer. I want to be the kind of photographer who travels

to Africa for weeks just to follow some animal around, the kind of photographer who sits outside until 3 a.m. just to get the perfect shot of the Milky Way, the kind of photographer who is madly in love with what they do. A degree from a university isn’t going to get me that.

Even a degree from an art school might not necessarily get me that, but it gets me closer. It gets me the right environment and the right people to be around for my career.

I’d be surrounded by like-minded people, other artists. The people who understand what it was like to be told that your passion in life will get you nowhere.

JessicaBanks

Opinion Editor

The right to have an opinion is valued by opinion editor On Jan. 20, President Trump was sworn into office, and ever since then our country has seen a lot of changes being implemented into the basic way our country is run and how we express ourselves.

As many people know, President Trump and the media don’t exactly get along. They have butted heads in more ways in the past couple months as he has prepared to take oath, than any other President in the history of our nation.

More recently when the concept of “first amendment rights” and our ability to express ourselves in the way we choose has been questioned, I have come to be very grateful that in our newspaper, we do have an opinion section. I am so grateful that we are able to have opinions and share them in whatever way we want.

There are some countries around the world where people are killed, or imprisoned for expressing their opinion. We are so privileged to live in a country that we can choose.

We have the power and right to make our own decisions. Whether it be on the topic of religion, speech, or any other topic discussed in the first amendment we have the right to choose.

I think it is so important that especially during this time of great change and conflict, that we maintain the understanding and make sure the government establishes that our right to have an opinion is protected above anything and everything else.

Many of my personal beliefs don’t align with the social norm or with what is “cool” in

society. I am so glad that even though some of my beliefs or values are in the minority, I am not persecuted for it or restricted to expressing my opinion.

It is obvious that certain parts of our government are struggling with the importance of having and expressing an opinion. However we need to rise up and stand for our beliefs in the importance of having an opinion.

Not just in having your own opinion, but in allowing others to have their own opinion.

I have seen this as a problem with some of the events that have taken place.

Right after the inauguration an event called “The Women’s March” took place, and where many of these people were trying to fight for women’s rights and women’s rights to express their opinions. I think it is great to have a place where everyone can go to share how they feel. However this was not the case.

This march was started and run by people who are Liberal, and one of the topics that were fought for was a women’s right to choose, more specifically dealing with abortions and planned parenthood. Where it is promised in our first amendment rights, “the right to assembly” some women who wanted to march standing up for conservative views, or those who are titled “pro life” were not allowed to march during the women’s march.

If one side of people’s opinion and how they choose to express it is respected, then all opinions need to be respected.

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

Opinion

8

FEDERAL FUNDING FACE-OFF

Planned Parenthood works to help women and men

Federal funding is not necessary for Planned Parenthood

n Jan. 5, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) announced that Planned Parenthood will no longer be receiving federal money. This announcement stirred a lot of emotions across the country and around the world. For some, it came as a relief. Planned Parenthood is not commonly liked by the Republican Party. For others, and me, it came as a shock and an obvious start to the reign of Donald J. Trump.

According to the Washington Post, Planned Parenthood gets $500 million from

long and active debate in our country is the one based upon whether or not Planned Parenthood should receive federal funding. Recently when President Donald Trump halted the federal funding of this organization the heat of the debate elevated.

I personally believe that funding Planned Parenthood is not necessary, because it is not a moral organization, specifically for the reason that it provides abortions.

Those who support Planned Parenthood claim that abortions are not the only thing that this organization offers, and that it offers prenatal care as well.

This statement was tested when a video investigator from Live Action News called Planned Parenthood locations around the world.

The investigators asked 97 facilities if they offered prenatal care, and only five of the facilities said they did, and the other 92 said that they only offered termination services. This fact is confirmed by Live Action Blog stating that only 8 percent of Planned Parenthood’s provide prenatal care.

Abortion is wrong. Every choice we make has a consequence; be they positive or negative, there is a consequence.

As simple as it is, the “consequence” of engaging in sexual intercourse is the chance of a child.

Allowing abortions for people who participated in sexual intercourse is giving them an out, escaping the consequences of their actions.

Now I am in no way saying that having a child is just a consequence. The gift of life is an amazing thing. Some people struggle to be able to have a child, and then there are some irresponsible individuals who have abortions because they can’t take responsibility for their actions or abstain until they can.

When I was 13 years old, my mom had a baby, and he died two days after birth.

I would do anything to have my brother back. So seeing these individuals throwing away the chance they have to grow a human life breaks my heart. Life is an amazing entity and it shouldn’t be put on the line.

Now I must address that there are some cases where an abortion is the only option, and in situations of rape, incest, or when a mother’s life is in danger, I understand abortion may be strongly considered.

O

Sarah Ljunggren the federal government annually. Federal funding covers 40 percent of Planned Parenthood’s budget.

There is much confusion when it comes to what Planned Parenthood does, and that’s why many are opposed to it. Planned Parenthood has a bright red A across its chest, and that A stands for abortion.

Many believe that Planned Parenthood’s main focus is helping women get abortions.

This is blatantly untrue and has been proven to be untrue over and over again, yet many people choose to ignore this fact. The fact is that abortion is 3 percent (this includes the use of the “day after” pill of what Planned Parenthood does. That leaves 97 percent of other services that are provided to women and men all over the country, according to the Washington Post.

These services include information about sexually transmitted diseases, information on how to prevent STD’s, contraceptives, birth control (including items such as birth control, condoms, the “day after” pill, IUD’s),

help and ways to prevent UTI’s, sonograms, pre-pregnancy nutrition, prenatal care, dealing with miscarriages, how to prevent the Zika virus, sexual orientation and gender, and men’s sexual health.

Not only does Planned Parenthood perform all of these services, but they also provide Pap tests and breast exams that help prevent cancer. According to Planned Parenthood’s web site, they have prevented approximately 579,000 pregnancies. They are able to do this because of their access to contraceptives and the fact that they are the nation’s largest provider of sex education.

Education and information is the most effective way to preventing pregnancy.

This does not cover everything that Planned Parenthood does to help men and women. All of these benefits are at risk of not being funded because of 3 percent of what this business does.

Planned Parenthood doesn’t actually perform the procedure in Great Falls, either.

They talk about other options available for women who are not in the right time or place to be pregnant.

But in the end it is up to the woman, because it is the woman’s body and no one else should be in charge of it -- especially not old white men sitting in an office.

The procedure cannot take place after 12 weeks of a pregnancy. Most abortions occur before this time. And because there is some confusion and rumors spreading on the Internet, a baby’s heart does not start to beat one week after conception, according to The Endowment for Human Development.

There have been many videos produced by opposing parties of Planned Parenthood that claim that Planned Parenthood has performed abortions when the fetus was fully grown. These videos have been proven to be fake, but many people still believe that they are true.

Planned Parenthood was established in 1916. That is 101 years of providing women and men with affordable healthcare.

Planned Parenthood has much more to offer than abortion.

It is an organization that was created to help women who might not have insurance or who do not have access to many of the things Planned Parenthood has to offer. I believe that Planned Parenthood should not be defunded because of 3 percent of what they do. And I also believe that every woman has the right to her own body, and Planned Parenthood gives them that right.

A

My heart truly goes out for those people, and whatever choice they make I know is necessary for them and was a difficult choice to make.

I would love to be able to say abortion wasn’t the debate, that it was all about whether or not Planned Parenthood offers more than just termination services.

However, it is the debate.

According to Life Site News, abortion has always been Planned Parenthood’s focus.

Not only has it always been its main focus,

Jessica Banks but according to FactCheck.org abortions are 94 percent of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy services.

Many people say that it should be a woman’s choice on what to do with her body. I agree that abortions allow a woman to choose. Abortion offers everyone a choice. A boy who wasn’t ready to be a father yet, a girl who doesn’t know how to care for a child -- everyone gets to choose what they want. That is, everyone except the baby, whose life is being taken. An abortion takes away any choice that child would have made in his or her lifetime.

According to newhealthguide.org a baby has a heartbeat within the first month of conception. Abortion is literally stopping a baby’s heart.

So even if Planned Parenthood offers prenatal care, it still offers abortions. I fully support the defunding of Planned Parenthood. I speak for the babies who never got the chance to speak

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

Opinion

9

Key Club senior is not ready to leave the concessions booth

by Ian Kaiser, staff writer always be my favorite place to be. Machines and slushie flavors have come and gone, and One of the best things about basketball games, besides the actual watching of the game, there are new faces every year, but through it all, my stand remains the same. are the concessions. Without them, it’s not a real sporting experience. And when you walk When I’ve had a bad day, I can count on concessions to cheer me up. Doing something I into the CMR fieldhouse, you are immediately confronted by the two separate concession love with my best friends is the best thing imaginable. Whether we’re singing along to the booths. One is run by parents of the players, and the other is run by members of the CMR pep band or creating weird slushie flavors, we’re always having fun. I mean, we’ve cried in Key Club. the stand before, but we’ve always been I’ve been working in that booth as a able to come back from that.

Key Club member for four years, and I can Another good thing about the booth is personally say that I have never received cheery Mr. Lathrop. Whether he’s relaxing a complaint about our booth. It might be in his chair by one of the windows or because we don’t sell as many things as managing the popcorn machine, he’s the other booth, but who knows. Despite always there. We’ve worked very few only selling a few items, we’re actually games without him, and those have pretty popular. We specialize in slushies and always been a little more mellow. I think popcorn, but we also sell Gatorade, Powerade, he’s like the secret ingredient. Without our and water. It doesn’t sound like a lot of work, advisor, we’re a little lost. right? Think again.

With all that said, these four years have We work for three and a half hours on come and gone, and I am not ready to say a normal night. We stay open based on goodbye to that stand. From the machines customer flow. But think of it like a regular and the view of the court to Mr. Lathrop, fast food job. Selling it is easy, but making it I can say that I’ll definitely remember is what kills. these times. The feeling of helping out and We have to try and hear orders over the A view of the halftime show at the Jan. 21 boys basketball game, when CMR cheerleaders making people smile is something that pep band, make it, get change, and give it to performed with “mini” cheerleaders. Taken from the CMR Key Club concessions booth window. stays with you. I’m not ready to go. I don’t the customer at a fast pace. Slushies are easy Photo by Ian Kaiser. think I ever will be. to make! That is, until you’re working through all four machines so fast that they don’t have If you like making people smile, please consider joining Key Club. It’s a great opportunity enough time to freeze, and you have to turn away customers. to better yourself and help the community around you. And it offers amazing opportunities But despite the challenges that this job throws at us, we always make sure to have a itself. good time, too. Concessions is a good mix of work and play, with just a little more play.

You can work these same concessions or volunteer at an art show or even build a can Despite slushie machines that don’t freeze too fast and the occasional popcorn spill, it will structure for the Food Bank. Give it a chance and see if you can make someone smile today.

Single

Mingle

and not ready to

Sierra Coster (12) “I go home, sleep, and stay up until 1 a.m.. playing Call of Duty.”

Josie Walters (12) “My parents give me candy and I’m usually working. Customers do say Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Cole Strong (11) “I Netflix and Chill by myself.”

Sarah Carbis (11) “On Valentine’s Day me and my friend went to a movie and it was super fun!”

Will Winslow (12) “I [go] home and eat chocolate-covered strawberries by myself.”

Grace Steffy (9) “[I] go to the store and buy all the Valetines on sale.”

Other ways to have fun while being single and free • • • • • • • • • •

Hang out with friends and family Go out for lunch or dinner Go out and watch a movie Hang out in the park Snuggle up with your own stuffed bear and chocolates Take a nap Eat a bucket of ice cream Live the day like any other Make it “rain” (Cha Ching $$) Read a book

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

10

Early CMR graduates relish in their newly granted freedom

Seniors work hard to graduate a semester early

Brenda Huston manages CMR’s economy from under the stairs

by Aurora Oden, staff writer CMR’s Finance Officer and Student Activities Coordinator Brenda Huston has worked at CMR for 27 years, and just recently she received an award that let her know how much her work is appreciated.

“I started at CMR in 1990 as the audio visual aid,” Huston said. Eight years later she started to work in the finance office, and she has worked there since.

“My finance job includes with 133 activity accounts,” she said. She pays all the bills for student activity and most of the building bills, and she makes all the banking deposits for all the fundraisers that go towards each activity account. As CMR’s sports coordinator, Huston is the one who sells and takes care of sport ticket sales.

She worked at North Middle School earlier in her career, but she said she really appreciates her work at CMR a lot.

“I like working with the people, the administration,” Huston said. “They are very good to work with.”

She also likes to work with the kids, and she thinks the school itself is a great school and that it has a lot of camaraderie.

Huston received an award in January.

“I got the Mildred Adams Award through the Montana High School Association working with student activity programs through the high school,” she said. She was both surprised, happy and thankful for receiving the award that now hangs on the wall in her office under the stairs.

by Jessica Banks, opinion editor Graduating a semester early might seem like a hard, but for Allison Hanson it was not too difficult to accomplish.

”As long as you get what you need to do done, you can achieve it,” Hanson said. “The school work to early grad was not hard.”

She originally decided to early grad when she was a junior and realized that she had almost enough credits to graduate.

Now that she has graduated, she plans on taking a trip to Hawaii with her boyfriend.

”We plan on going ziplining, snorkeling, paddle boarding, and so much more while being there,” Hanson said.

She isn’t the only one with special post-graduation travel plans. Camryn Rhodes is another early grad who is going on a few adventures of her own.

“I decided to early grad because I am ready to start my life and I wanted to travel a little bit before I had to get a job and start saving up for college,” Rhodes said.

She is taking a trip to Arizona and the surrounding areas.

Rhodes agrees with Hanson that it isn’t too difficult to graduate early aside from having a little heavier classload.

“It wasn’t difficult to early grad. It just required a few more classes and really working hard to get things done,” she said.

Both Hanson and Rhodes started their senior year knowing they were going to graduate early, but Katie Davis decided to graduate early halfway through first semester.

“By the time the first semester was over I had missed a lot of school mostly because

I just didn’t have the motivation to go anymore,” Davis said.

She chose to take English and government over the summer, so she started the school year with all of her required classes completed. She was ready to move on with her life.

One class stood out as the most difficult part of the whole process for Davis.

“The hardest part about the school work was the online summer English. I hate English as it is, so having to work through a whole year in just one summer was a struggle,” she said.

Like Hanson and Rhodes, Davis also has some post-graduation plans she hopes to carry out. ”I’m focusing on saving some money up to be able to go to Seattle in March and hopefully go down to Arizona over the summer,” Davis said.

However, her main focus has been starting the next chapter in her life. She has managed to stay busy since she graduated.

She works two jobs and is taking a few classes at GFCMSU. All three early grads agree that what they miss most about high school is seeing some of their favorite people every day. Hanson said she specifically misses the journalism department and the happiness she got from her classes spent in there everyday.

“The only thing I miss about being in high school is being able to see all the bright faces that walk into the journalism room each day, and B, she is just the person who can make your day a little bit brighter. She is the best teacher I have ever had.”

ClaraMcClain

Features Editor

High school junior finds her movie soulmate in “La La Land” I fell in love with “La La Land” the minute the first musical number was started by a woman humming along to her radio in the middle of L.A. traffic.

“Another Day of Sun” is such a perfect song to sum up the feeling of Hollywood. No one is really from L.A. (OK, some people are, I know) It’s a city made of hopefuls looking to fulfill their lifelong dream of making it onto the silver screen. My favorite lines from that opening number are, “And even when the answer’s “no”/Or when my money’s running low/The dusty mic and neon glow/Are all I need.”

That’s how determined I want to be to achieve my dream. I want to be willing to give up my comfortable living and really sprint for it, but I know that I’m too type A for that to ever work. There’s a place for everything and everything in its place, in relation to my future at least. But maybe falling in love with Mia’s story of hard work will make me more willing to chase my dreams with more vigor.

Mia -- portrayed by Emma Stone in the movie -- is the person I want to be more like.

She’s willing to take risks, she doesn’t take no for an answer, and she’s never afraid to tell people what she’s actually thinking. There’s no room for false hope and shallow

friends in her Hollywood, and I respect her for that.

Plus, a movie where I get to see Ryan Gosling play the piano, sign me up. Gosling learned how to play piano specifically for his time as Sebastian, so watching him perform in “La La Land” is that much more impressive.

Stone took voice lessons to perfect her singing voice, not to mention that they both learned how to tap dance and waltz. Training isn’t just required for the superhero fights we see on screen constantly, all aspects of moviemaking require some form of training beforehand, and I respect that.

Even though they have those talents on screen, the movie is just about two people with big dreams who happened to fall in love along the way to making those dreams come true.

It’s a modern love story that calls back to the old Hollywood glamor musicals in the most wonderful of ways. I love old musicals and “La La Land” is a new take on that style of film and I hope it catches on and more movies like it come out in the future.

Reimagining the past is a great way to better the future.

11 S Features Bruggeman earns second place in Race to the Sky Sophomore and his team of dogs are the youngest finishers ever February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

by Clara McClain, features editor to your dad.’ Turns out my dad was getting interested in the Spencer Bruggeman may be young, but this 15-year-old is same thing at the same time.” letting nothing stop him and his dogs. Especially now that they The Race to the Sky was an intense race for Bruggeman, as have earned 2nd place and the prestige of being the youngest he ran next to the sled in stretches to give his dogs a break from finishers in the Race to the Sky’s history. His father Brett carrying him in the sled for the 300-mile race.

Bruggeman came in right behind him and got “I got four hours total of sleep the four days I 3rd. Spencer finished at 10:16 p.m. and Brett was racing. One hour on Saturday and three hours finished at 10:16:05 p.m. on Monday,” he said.

“I was going to finish [the race] or they were With the lack of sleep over four days, going to find me on the trail,” he said after he Bruggeman was hallucinating, but he needed to returned. “So it was great [to get 2nd], it feels stay upbeat for his team of 12 dogs. amazing.”

“They can sense your emotions, so if I were to Bruggeman is the youngest competitor in the get down, they’d be able to tell and that wouldn’t history of the annual 300-mile Race to the Sky be good for our race.”

Right: Spencer Bruggeman races in the Pedigree® Stage dogsled race that started in Lincoln on Feb. 10 The dogs’ emotions are very important to the Stop Race in Alpine, Wyo., in January 2016. Above: and takes from three to four days to complete. outcome of the race, so Bruggeman didn’t race Bruggeman holds his dog while it goes through the “It’s going to be kind of scary,” Bruggeman Spencer enjoys a hard-earned them the full 300 miles before the start of the race. mandatory veterinary check-up before the race starts on Feb. 11. Photos courtesy of the Skinny Leg Sled Dogs meal after finishing the Race said before the race.

“Running that long of a distance before we Facebook page.

Bruggeman got into the sport at the same to the Sky on Feb. 13. Photos race just disheartens the dogs. It’s not good for the time as his father without talking to him about courtesy of the Skinny Leg team,” he said.

Sled Dogs Facebook page. it first.

Instead, Bruggeman works up the dogs’ “I have a birth defect in my left leg, so I can’t run well or do endurance by starting with the fourwheeler in September and regular organized sports. I was reading ‘Call of the Wild’ by Jack over time getting to overnight trips close to the race. Working London and got interested in it,” Bruggeman said. “Then I was with the dogs is his favorite part of sled racing, he and his dad driving home with my mom and I was like, ‘We should start dog have 40 dogs in total that they train for racing. sledding.’ She just stopped the car and said, ‘You’ve been talking

Colby Falkenhagen aims to become underwater welder CMR student sets example for others who aspire for alternative careers

by Lexi Bako, staff writer allowing graduates to get jobs all over the world.

Senior year offers many stresses, including the Falkenhagen specifically chose this school so he can question “Where are you going after graduation?” Colby become an underwater welder. Underwater welding differs Falkenhagen’s answer differs from most. from many careers -- especially in the training behind it.

Falkenhagen has focused his efforts into “Going through the course gets you Going through welding. the certifications you’ll need on the job,” “I’ve taken welding freshman, the course gets you the Falkenhagen explained. “They usually sophomore, junior, and then senior year I it for salvage operations on boats.” certifications you’ll need on use Attending am at the college,” Falkenhagen said. the Divers Institute is very Falkenhagen spends the afternoon at the job. useful for his career path, and he said Colby Falkenhagen MSU-Great Falls College welding, and he is he plans to get his associate’s degree in in process of earning his associate’s degree marine and commercial diving. Students in welding and fabrication technology. get real life practice and hands-on experience.

After graduation he said he plans to attend the Divers Institute of Technology in Seattle.

DIT specializes in training commercial divers and is one of the first schools to offer international certification,

“

”

Senior Colby Falkenhagen at MSU-Great Falls College practicing TIG welding. Photo courtesy of Colby Falkenhagen.

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

Features

14

Rustler reigns over Rodeo

Senior Haelee Essebaggers poses as Miss Teen Rodeo Montana, a title which she hopes to use to promote Western culture. Essebaggers races on her horse Hopskotch to display the colors at a rodeo. Photos courtesy of Haelee Essebaggers.

by Quincy Schmechel, entertainment editor Being proud of where you come from can be central to an identity, but senior Haelee Essebaggers’ roots run every bit as deep as her pride.

Essebaggers became Miss Teen Rodeo Montana for 2016-17 after running for the last two consecutive years, and she said she hopes to use the title to do more than simply participate in the sport of rodeo.

Central to Western culture, rodeos have been a large part of a Westerner’s identity since the American’s spilled into the West in the early 1800’s.

However, rodeos have faced a large decline in recent decades. Essebagger, who grew up among the rodeo community, hopes to help promote the culture during her year as Miss Teen Rodeo Montana, a title she’s worked hard to achieve since middle school.

“I’ve been involved with rodeo ever since eighth grade,” Essebaggers said. “My first title was the Big Sky Prorodeo Roundup Princess, and after that I really just fell in love with the queen roles. [During freshman year], I couldn’t compete in high school rodeo because my horse was too young. My barrel horse was only a yearling, but he’s four years old now and so this year I’m competing in the high school rodeo and trying to get to state this year.”

Essebaggers said that the road to titledom hasn’t always been easy, and that there were a few bumps and forks in the road.

“I first ran for Miss Teen Rodeo Montana as a junior and got first runner up,” Essebaggers said. “So someone recruited me into the South Eastern title, which is down in Miles City, [and I spent] that time learning more about rodeo communities and their impact all through the state.”

Essebaggers said that the smaller pageants she competed in really helped prepare her for running for Miss Teen Rodeo Montana as a senior.

“This year when I ran I ran unopposed. I think I scared some of the other girls off,” Essebaggers said with a laugh. “I was out to win, and I really

wanted this title and everyone knew it.”

For Essebaggers, though, being Miss Teen Rodeo Montana is about far more than a simple title. She expressed a desire to incorporate rodeo in elementary-age kids’ lives and a passion for being a role model.

“My main [involvement as] Miss Teen Rodeo Montana is to promote the sport of rodeo and our Western heritage,” Essebaggers said. “It’s not even all centered around rodeo. What I plan to do with my year is to not only attend rodeo events, but also to go to many schools across the state of Montana and even out of state to teach younger kids about our shared Western heritage and about the sport of rodeo, as well as promote agriculture. I’m part of FFA and a firm believer that agriculture goes hand-in-hand with the sport.”

Essebaggers said that aside from competing in high school rodeo events, she does things like riding in parades and giving autographs to promote the sport so dear to her heart.

After her time pursuing teen rodeo, Essebaggers plans to attend college to study equine chiropractics. As someone who grew up around horses, both competing and breaking them herself, Essebaggers hopes to help the animals she is so passionate about.

“I really fell in love with it when we had to call an equine chiropractor to help my horse after he popped a disk out in his back,” she recalled. “I grew up around horses, and around Western culture. I fell in love with it. Everyone thought I’d just grow out of it, and I guess I never did.”

Essebaggers said that her experiences through rodeo have taught her valuable life lessons about both herself and others that she will carry on through the rest of her life, even after her year as a rodeo queen.

“For some people it’s just all about winning,” Essebaggers said.

“But for me, it’s about doing something I love and working toward my accomplishments. I take a lot of pride in it.”

Now also a B&B

The N’ Thing

Spring is almost upon us, and it is a great time to go out and do nice things for our community Mark R. Cappis, CPA Shareholder

More than 1,000 dresses in stock!

Not just gorgeous dresses, but shoes and accessories!

Special order the dress of your dreams and get it in at least 5 days!

415 S. Main St. * Conrad * 59425 (406) 278-5408

21 Tenth Street South Great Falls, Montana 59401 Tel. 406.727.0888 Fax.406727.0895

Meets Mondays in room 325 @ 4 p.m.

mrcappis@azworld.com www.azworld.com

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

15

Who do you love...

the most?

by Sarah Ljunggren, staff writer

“Oh for sure my mom. My mom is the cutest little thing you’ve ever seen, and she loves her children more than anything.”

- Beth Britton

Far right: Amanda and Shawn Kohut on their wedding day in 2007.

Right: The Kohuts after their twins were born. Above: A recent photoshoot the Kohuts had with their kids.

Photos courtesy of Amanda Kohut.

“I think that I probably love my parents the most. They’re kind of my best friends, and I can go to them for anything.”

- Sarah Cherry

LOVE IS ALIVE AT CMR

by Chloe Geary, staff writer There are many forms of love at CMR -- from the obvious PDA plaguing the halls and the bonds that teachers form with students, love at CMR is everywhere.

One of these love stories is that of Mr. and Mrs. Kohut.

When math teacher Amanda Kohut started working at CMR 12 years ago, she met Shawn through three different mutual friends, and the rest is history.

They dated for a year before getting engaged in the summer of 2007, and by the end of the year they were married.

Shawn proposed to Amanda during a drive up through Gibson Reservoir.

“We stopped along the road along the way, and when she wasn’t looking, I got down on one knee and proposed to her. We were overlooking the river,” Shawn said.

Because the Kohuts like cold weather, they decided to get married in the fall.

“We got married the Saturday after Thanksgiving 10 years ago,” Amanda said When the couple had kids, it was important that their twins have family names.

Their more rambunctious child, Dorothy (a.k.a.

Dottie), was named after Amanda’s aunt.

“She’s definitely tougher; she’s the stronger of the two. She’s like a little tank,” Amanda said.

“Dottie is kind of our wild child. She did a lot of things first, but at one point Mike started doing things first, too. He was the first to walk, but she was crawling long before he was,” Shawn said.

Michael is known for being the quieter, more gentle soul.

“Mike’s more of a sweetheart,” Shawn said.

Even with two toddlers and both parents working full time, the Kohuts still work to find time for each other.

“We’re very conscious of making time for each other,” Amanda said.

“I love my family the most because I love and enjoy the little family times we have together.

They’re my No. 1 supporters.”

- Isaiah Vang

“Probably my sisters because they’re always there for me, and I can always go to them when I need help.”

- Mary Brown

“My mom because she is awesome.”

- Eric Roberts

Entertainment Editor

QuincySchmechel

Junior struggles to make decisions about college Thousands of dollars, student loans, grants, scholarships, living expenses. The pursuit of my higher education is fast approaching, and along with it are some major expenses.

And that’s what seems to be the problem: my major. Since I was quite young, I’ve been drawn to English; while most people shy away from the finer points of grammar, reading, and writing, I’ve wanted to delve as far into it as I could since I was seven or eight.

Therefore, going to college to pursue a personal passion and majoring in English has been my golden goal for just shy of a decade. However, as senior year and, along with it, major decisions are fast approaching, I’m being forced to look past simply my next step after high school and on to the more distant future; namely, what could I possibly do with an English major?

And, secondly, is pursuing something I’m intensely passionate about worth the expense if getting a job with an expensive degree is going to be so difficult?

To me, absolutely. While many people choose to go into a field that is easy to find a job in, or worse yet, end up working a job they loathe to get by, I simply cannot live like that.

The idea of going to work every day to perform mundane, passionless tasks and hating my job has no appeal to me, no matter the payroll.

However, many people think that spending tens of thousands of dollars in college to

only earn a degree with which I can do nothing is stupid, unnecessary, and will result in debt. And maybe they’re right. With a degree in English I can do some of the obvious.

Editing, in which jobs are seemingly scarce; grant writing, which makes bank but seems incredibly mundane; teaching, which would require me to obtain a teaching degree as well; and writing, which is what I really want to do but unless I miraculously transform into a writer like J.K. Rowling, making a living is a longshot.

I’ve long thought of the Robert Frost poem in which he talks about taking the road less travelled. And, in honesty, I’d like to think that I’m rather an expert in taking the difficult path in the fork of the road. Whether that makes me adventurous or foolish, I don’t know. What I do know, though, is that I’ve been told since I could walk that I should find something I love and something I’m good at and to stick to it. For me, that has always been English. I think passion is worth more than money ever could be; I’m a heart over head type of person when it comes to the future. And from my mere 16 years on this planet, I’ve seen people do some pretty incredible things when they couple passion and ambition, both of which I have ample amounts. I’m eager to see where I find myself within the next few years, and I know that wherever I go, I’m getting there through my own means and methods, and I’m not giving anything up.

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

Entertainment

16

Velma Jordan successfully leads Color Guard for 30+years

Drum line performance leaves students in awe CMR drum line stunned the student body at the pep assembly on Friday, Feb 10. Their inspiration came from a Taiko Drumming presentation, and they were exposed to the Asian theme and decided to use it for their performance. If you missed it, you can go rustlernews. com to watch the epic show.

by Chloe Geary, staff writer Velma Jordan has been leading the Color Guard since the 1980s. She’s directed the students through countless pep assemblies, football games, and Homecoming parades.

Throughout her years of leading the Color Guard at CMR, the school and the traditions have gone through many changes.

“When I first started, [Color Guard] had horses. If you go back into old yearbooks, you can see them. We would bring them out all the time. But when they put the all-weather track in at Great Falls High, they stopped allowing horses onto the field,” Jordan said.

At that time, Jordan said that Great Falls High actually had a white buffalo that they would bring onto the field.

Color Guard had 30 flags at one point, too.

“Billings West had 30 flags, and if I was going to do Color Guard, we would have 30 flags, too,” she said.

Over the years, Jordan believes that school spirit and the willingness of students to participate in spirit teams has decreased.

“The general school spirit of CMR has gone down quite a lot over the decades. Most

basketball games we can only get two rows of students in the student section. In the years past, during basketball crosstown, if you didn’t come to the JV game, you couldn’t get into the building,” she said.

To help combat the decline of school spirit at CMR, Jordan is looking for students to be involved with Color Guard next year.

“I would love for some kids who are interested in Color Guard to come talk to me down in the media center.”

At the Homecoming parade, the Color Guard prepares to walk down Central Avenue. Taken on Sept. 30. Photo by Lindsey Robison.

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com 17

Entertainment

by Amanda Cornwall, staff writer You know when you’re listening to your favorite song and you close your eyes and everything feels whole again? Imagine that feeling, but amplified by a billion because the person singing it is a foot away from you.

I got to experience that feeling on Feb. 7 in Bozeman when I saw Twenty One Pilots.

They’ve been my favorite band for years, the soundtrack in the background of my high school life, through thick and thin, and I got to see them perform in a nearly sold-out arena from almost the center of the barricade. I camped out in the snow for 22 hours, and it was 100 percent worth everything -- from the frozen feet to the snow-soaked blankets.

I can’t really put into words how much that show meant to me, but I can try. More than once I was overwhelmed to tears, because seeing Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun up on that stage was incredible. I remember when they were just a baby band, just two guys from Ohio performing to crowds of 12 people and writing songs in their basements. And all of a sudden they were performing to almost 8,000 people.

Watching Tyler get up there and sing his songs to all of us is something I’m never going to forget, because he went through so much as a teenager, and he made it through everything and made it to that point. He made it. And I think it shows that anyone can make it. Like he said in their Grammy acceptance speech, “Anyone from anywhere can do anything.” And coming from someone like him, I really do believe it.

Both Tyler and Josh pour their hearts out on the stage every night, and everyone in the crowd is right there with them. There’s an emotion in the room at one of their concerts that’s impossible to describe, because it’s something you need to experience on a personal level to truly understand, but it’s something happy and beautiful.

twenty one pilots

“

twenty one pilots performs at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman on Feb. 7.

To read the rest of Ian Kaiser’s piece go to rustlernews.com. Photos by Amanda Cornwall.

Mass amounts of teenagers were sobbing. Strangers were hugging other strangers, just because they were both crying. The couple next to me held on tight and whispered sweet promises to each other. My best friends were crying, and my sister placed a hand on my shoulder.

It was silent and subtle, and just like her.

It was a message, letting me know that she was there. She saw me, and saw what was happening, and she was there.

Ian Kaiser

Love Songs Solidify your relationship with the best romantic songs of the spring of the month

By Hannah Pospisil, staff writer

“My Kind of Woman” Mac DeMarco

“My Kind of Woman” puts all of the cheesy lovey-dovey thoughts you get when you see your lovely lady into a song, and it’s amazing.

The twangy guitar and DeMarco’s gruff voice make the song as catchy as it is. If you love your woman, you need to show her this song.

Photo courtesy of Mac Demarco.

“Glass In The Park” Alex Turner

This is honestly THE love song of all the love songs. Alex Turner wrote this song specifically for the soundtrack for the movie “Submarine,” which happens to be the only romance movie I enjoy. It’s plenty of acoustics with a touch of warm bleakness, and I am simply in love with it.

“There Is a Light that Never Goes Out” The Smiths

If you like music from the 80’s you’ll know about The Smiths and how flawless Morrissey is. This song is simply a bop. It sounds like a song that would play in the background of a corny 80’s romance film. If you like sappy stuff, give this song a listen.

“Baby Blue” King Krule

”

Personally, this is the best love song of all time.

Krule (Archy Marshall) has impeccable song writing skills, and his guitar makes the most mesmerizing sounds. This song in particular is nothing less than romantic. He sings lyrics of adoration and love while his guitar plays dreamy chords in the background.

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

Entertainment

Chanteur hits the road for AllNorthwest

The GFH auditorium was packed on Feb. 7 for the second night of AA Orchestra. The students spent two days with two guest conductors. Photo by Mackenzie George.

Chamber Orchestra shines during AA Festival

by Mackenzie George, editor-in-chief Electrifying music echoed through the GFH auditorium on Feb. 6-7 as musicians from around the state celebrated two days of the arts.

Steve Olson’s Chamber Orchestra combined with Great Falls High, Billings Senior, and Billings Skyview for the 54th annual AA Orchestra. Whitefish was also scheduled to participate but didn’t attend due to weather.

This was senior Hannah Flosi’s fourth AA performance, her second in Montana. Flosi also participated in AA for two years in North Dakota. Flosi was a fan of her guest conductor, Dr. Luis Millan of the University of Montana.

“He was really patient with us and helped us get a few hard runs down,” Flosi said. “We had a lot of good memories, a lot of fun times and laughs.”

Great Falls High combined with Billings Skyview to perform three songs of their own, under the direction of Dr. Ovidiu Marinescu of Romania.

Flosi has played the viola for six years and seen plenty of sheet music, but she couldn’t pick a favorite from the three pieces CMR performed with Billings Senior.

“It would be between ‘Montagues and Capulets’ and ‘Across the Stars’ -- but I really liked ‘Sleeping Beauty’ too,” Flosi said.

by Mackenzie George, editor-in-chief “It’s easy to sing for our CMR audience, but it’s a whole other experience singing for professionals,” junior Makenzie Robertson said.

Robertson traveled to Seattle for her first All-Northwest Choir trip with Chanteur from Chanteur Choir recently performed for the Feb. 15-19. The group performed in Spokane NAfME All-Northwest Choir in Seattle. for a high school and college choir before Photo by Julia Gremaux. singing six pieces in Bellevue.

All-Northwest is a conference put on by NAfME, the National Association for Music Education, each year. Choirs submit audition tapes the previous fall.

“The trip was an amazing experience, and it definitely brought our choir closer together,” Robertson said.

Senior Sam Workman enjoyed getting to know the other students in the choir.

“These are people that I see every day but don’t often get to know on a personal level,” Workman explained. “This trip, we all got to bond together over something we are passionate about, which is music.”

After the conference, Chanteur spent Saturday afternoon at Pike Place Market with their friends.

“I enjoyed getting to know some of the people in choir and exploring Seattle,” Robertson said.

For Workman, the most challenging part of the trip was making sure she was prepared.

“I questioned whether or not I prepared myself for everything that was included in the trip, but in the end I found that I was more than prepared for all aspects of it,” Workman said.

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

Entertainment

Pep Assembly

by Quincy Schmechel, entertainment editor When it comes to winter sports at CMR, basketball is probably the first that comes to many students’ minds. While basketball is extraordinarily fun both to watch and play, other winter sports are sometimes overshadowed by it.

Thankfully, though, we here at CMR love to shed the light on all our athletes. Friday, Feb. 10 marked our winter sports pep assembly, where student body leaders, Wranglers, cheerleaders, pep band, and drumline all gave a good-luck and congratulatory send off to wrestlers and swimming, who were participating in state in Billings and Great Falls, respectively.

They also wished good luck to the CMR Lady Rustlers basketball team, who faced the Great Falls High Lady Bison at home later that night for their second crosstown victory.

Pep assemblies are perhaps one of the most fun aspects of life at CMR, due to the fact that they involve everyone and incorporate fun, tradition, and recognition. The pep assembly on the 10th incorporated a show-stopping performance by the cheerleaders, a peppy dance to the school song by the Wranglers, a fantastic ninja-inspired rendition of the crosstown game to come by the CMR drumline, and a trivia game involving the

Ruslter Nation gets excited and shows support for winter sports

faculty and the entire student body, which was made possible by student body officers Trisha Carlson, Trevor Funseth, and Caleb Brown.

Freshman Carlie Settera performed Mag-7 with her fellow Wranglers and expressed a sense of pride and enthusiasm for the pep assembly performance.

“It’s just really fun to perform in pep assemblies,” Settera said. “It’s a lot different from performing in games because everyone’s there and they’re not just focusing on a game, [the spotlight is really on you]. It’s a lot easier to be super peppy, I guess, when the crowd is cheering you on.”

Settera said that her favorite part of performing with a team she loves isn’t centered around what happens on the gym floor, but instead what goes on in the bleachers. She said that performing is for the crowd, and that’s what makes it fun.

“There’s nothing better than seeing [everyone’s] faces when the Wranglers do different or new stuff, and that’s what makes it fun. That’s my favorite part of performing.”

Senior Garrity Wright participated in her last pep assembly on Feb. 10, and shared many similar sentiments to Settera.

“Performing in a pep rally isn’t something

many people experience,” Wright said. “You have everybody’s eyes on you, judging you and all of your team’s hard work. Knowing that you as a team look good sets you up to completely own the show. It’s really amazing.”

Wright said that the performance carried a certain significance to her, as she will be graduating this year. She said that although she thought that the team has had better performances in past years, that in light of recent events she was proud of her team and all the hard work they put into their performance. After losing coaches mid season and coming together under new direction, and a captain quitting mid season, Wright said she was impressed by the performance the cheerleaders put together in less than a month.

“I believe we did a great job sticking together to get the performance up to par,” she said.

Wright believes that the job of pep assemblies is extremely important to tradition and pride in CMR, and that they have an extreme importance within the school. “[It’s all about] the entertainment that pep rallies provide. It gives the students a portion of the day to be filled with school spirit and I think that’s important.”

Students cheer during the pep assembly on Feb. 10. Cheerleaders perform a complicated stunt for their pep assembly routine. Band plays proudly for Rustler Nation to excite the student body about state competitors and the crosstown game. Photos by Jesica Banks.

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

20

Laurel wrestler makes history

by Ashton Palen, sports editor The world is always changing. Over the past couple of decades, many people have strived for equality. African Americans, Latino Americans, and many other people have fought for equality.

Even now there are people making a difference. Abigail Gontarek is the first female wrestler signed by the University of Great Falls. Gontarek was the first female wrestler to place in state in 2014. She is from Laurel Montana, where she wrestled for four years. Gontarek is the first girl signed for UGF’s new women’s wrestling program. This is historic for UGF’s wrestling program, but how do CMR wrestlers feel about it?

“I think it’s awesome that the sport is having a spot for women to compete and extend their wrestling career outside of high school. To be able to take it to the next level and compete for bigger prizes,” senior Graydon Irish said. Irish went to state this year and has wrestled for four years.

Varsity wrestling coach Aaron Jensen said that her signing is historic.

“UGF starting a women’s program is big,” Jensen said. “I think it might make girls more interested in high school wrestling.

Sophomore Kai Stewart points out that it is not only her gender that got her there.

“A big thing people need to realize is that you have to be good to wrestle in college, even as a girl. So everyone is like ‘Let’s get a lot of girls out to wrestle’ when in reality usually only girls who wrestle from a younger age will continue to college,” Stewart said. “However, I really think Great Falls will start seeing a lot of good wrestlers in the female division starting to come up in UGF. They will be very fun to watch.”

Abigail Gontarek is seated next to UGF coach Caleb Schaffer after Gontarek signed to wrestle at UGF. The school is starting a women’s wrestling program in 2017. Photos courtesy of Tom Wylie/ KRTV.

Stairs gain group of runners in off-season

by McKenzie Connell, staff writer On any given school day at CMR, students and teachers complain about climbing the stairs to the third floor, but there is one group of Rustlers who willingly subject themselves to those same stairs in search of a good workout.

Members of the CMR track team have started running stairs every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The group consists of high school runners and the Wednesday Night Runners club.

The workouts normally consist of increasing the intervals. There is miracle mile, 5 by 5, and the ladder.

One mile is eight laps around the third floor. With four stairs in each lap, miracle mile is running every set of stairs each time you pass it for each of the eight laps.

Each of the workouts is high intensity and for long amounts of time depending on how hard you want to go.

“Running stairs helps me while it’s cold outside,” freshman MacKenzie Dean said. With it being only every other day it still fits into her busy schedule, she added.

“It’s kind of a love-hate relationship,” senior Katie Weidow Club runners use the stairs at CMR to ensaid. She’s been running for only hance their workout a few times each week. a few years, but she said she loves Photos by McKenzie Connell. being able to come with her dad and run with the group.

Freshman Connor O’Hara loves the atmosphere. Everyone is there for the same purpose, and everyone feels the same, which creates a great group of people, he said.

“The moment you stop running you feel great. It must be from the endorphins,” freshman Emma Bergman said. Everyone hurts during the workout -- adults and students alike. But the high pain helps with the mental toughness that is crucial for long distance running.

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday the group runs from 5:15 to about 6:15. Anyone in search of a good workout is encouraged to attend.

AshtonPalen

Sports Editor

Super Bowl LI made history for both the Patriots and Falcons Sunday Feb 5. was a historic day for football. Thirty-one records were tied or broken during Super Bowl LI, 28 of which were set solely by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. One of the coolest records that was set during Super Bowl LI was that this was the only Super Bowl in history to go into overtime. The Patriots had to make an incredible comeback in order to tie the game up.

In the first quarter, neither team was giving ground, and it looked like it was going to be a battle of the defenses.

But by the second quarter the Falcons took a major lead of 21-3 only allowing the Patriots to get a field goal. Going into the half it looked like the Patriots were really going to have to make a major comeback.

In the third quarter the Patriots were finally able to get a touchdown, only to miss the extra point, allowing the Falcons to answer right back making the score 28-9 by the end of quarter 3.

Going into the fourth quarter, the Patriots needed a miracle. And they got that miracle.

They put up 19 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, leaving the score 28-28 heading into overtime.

In overtime, the deciding factor of the game was the coin toss. The game could have gone either way -- it just depended on which team won the coin toss. In the end, the Patriots got the ball and drove down the field for another touchdown, winning the game.

No matter which way overtime went, it would have been an historic outcome. If the Falcons won, it would have been the first Super Bowl win for the franchise. If the Patriots won, it would have been the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history.

Granted it did not go the way I was hoping. But I have to hand it to the Patriots. They pulled off a miracle with that comeback. Brady may be a bit arrogant, he may believe a little bit too much of his own press. But he does have the skills to back up claims that he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He earned the most valuable player award for his quick passes and quick play calls.

If the Falcons pulled off a win I think that the MVP would have been Julio Jones, one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. Some of the most exciting plays were made by Jones. His one-handed catches, his near falls. I think Jones would have earned the MVP spot twice over with the plays he made.

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

Sports

21

Rustlers crush the Bison in an epic crosstown feud

“Four teams, one family” a way of life for students on both sides of the river

Noah Brennan

by Jessica Banks, opinion editor For two rival schools that constantly practice together, competing against each other can be interesting. Senior Noah Brennan says the crosstown meet is different than any other in the season because the swimmers are always together.

“Four teams one family is pretty much exactly what it says. When we’re at practice, you can’t really tell there are four different teams. We’re all really close,” Brennan said.

This is Brennan’s final year on the CMR swim team. “[Being a senior] makes every meet this year that much more special, but it’s all amplified at crosstown,” he said.

Even though the teams are united, there is still a little bit of crosstown rivalry in the pool all of the time. Brennan said that his biggest competitor on Great Falls High’s team is Joe Guter because he always has such high energy.

Brennan said that there isn’t anyone specifically that he pushes himself to beat at meets at Great Falls High, but the relays were the closest races.

Crosstown was his last meet before state, and this was part of what makes this meet so special. “[I love] that feeling getting close to the finish line and not wanting the race to end,” he said.

Brennan said that besides there being no other competitors besides the Great Falls High swimmers, the competition is run similarly to other meets.

“It’s still the same as any other meet when it comes to execution -- like how serious we are about swimming fast,” he said.

However, he said that it is more fun, and the desperation to win isn’t there for him as much. This contributes to finishing up his season on a positive note.

“It’s probably the most fun meet of the year because I’m not trying to be as competitive.”

End-of-season “The highlight of the season was watching everyone improve on the team and then at state seeing all of our hard work pay off. It was so exciting to watch this team work out what events were best for everyone and what relays would place well and just really seeing a group of girls come together and end up with a podium team at state.”

“[I] couldn’t have asked for a better season. My success is due to Coach Mac and my parents. My last year had its ups and downs, Olivia Bauman, 11 but I’m glad it ended on an up.”

Olivia Bauman

Andrew Spragg

“[My favorite part of swimming was] the bus rides. They are so much fun and I’ve made some really fun memories on them. We always watch two movies on the way back, and the arguments are hilarious.”

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“The highlight of this swim season for me was cheering everyone on at state. Everyone was so energetic and that weekend was so exciting.

It was so great to see when people did better than they expected to do or placed higher than they thought they would place.”

Ayana Gray

Karissa Birdsong, 10

Phone: 406.453.9460 Fax: 406.771.7130 Email: tammyq@allstate.com

Results - 2017 State Swimming GIRLS TEAM: 3rd place BOYS TEAM: 5th place Girls 200 Medley Relay: 3, C. M.Russell High School ‘A’ (Darlene Westie SO, Molly Demarco JR, Megan Carroll SR, Ayana Gray JR) 1:59.21.4 Boys 200 Freestyle:(A Final) 6, Noah Brennan, CMR, 1:55.12 Girls 200 IM:(A Final) 5, Darlene Westie, CMR, 2:19.48.5 Girls 50 Freestyle:(A Final) 4, Ayana Gray, CMR, 25.76.5 Boys 50 Freestyle :(A Final) 6, Andrew Spragg, CMR, 22.65 Girls 100 Butterfly:(A Final) 3, Olivia Bauman, CMR, 1:02.56 Boys 100 Freestyle:(A Final) 5, Andrew Spragg, CMR, 49.46.6

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Brynn Dart

by Jessica Banks, opinion editor With any sport, each athlete loves something different about it, whether it be working out, the feeling from competing or just the general love for the game. For Great Falls High freshman Brynn Dart, her favorite thing about swimming is different than most sports.

“In most sports the high schools are rivals, but not in swimming,” she said. “That is what I love.”

This is Dart’s first year on the swim team, and as a freshman she has felt very welcomed by the other athletes.

“Everyone has really welcomed me and mentored me along the way,” she said.

Dart said she feels privileged to be a part of the “four teams, one family” atmosphere as a high school sport. It changes the way she enjoys swimming.

“I think it means that the four teams are all so different and unique, but at the end of the day we all share the same drive for the sport and sometimes we get annoyed with each other, but we all love each other,” Dart said.

She thinks that because they all practice together and are united as a team, it makes the crosstown meet different from most crosstown competitions in Great Falls.

“Crosstown is different because the two teams are like family. It makes it so much more relaxed and easier to go out and do what we love because you know everyone there has your back no matter what,” she said.

During the meet, Dart felt that her biggest competitor from CMR was sophomore Darlene Westie, who also swims the 100 breaststroke.

“In every race, having her in the lane next to me is like a rush of adrenaline. Knowing she’s there really pushes me beyond my limits,” she said.

Dart has loved her first year as a high school swimmer. She said it has been a successful season, and she looks forward to more.

“It’s nice being at the pool with ‘the family.’ It feels like home.”

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

Sports

Wrestlers face off against Montana

22

What does it take to win?

by Ashton Palen, sports editor Have you ever been inside of the mind of a wrestler fighting for the right to call themselves state champion?

Kai Stewart has been in this position two times over his high school wrestling career. The first time he qualified, but this time it was his first time placing. Stewart placed second place in the 138 weight class in state on Feb. 10-11.

Senior Deven Altenburg (Top) Sophmore Kai Stewert, (Bottom) Mike Brien “I was heartbroken. I worked hard all season. I beat the kid I wrestled, we went into overtime, and in the last two seconds he got two points to end it. I felt the worst feeling of my life,” Stewart said.

Although Stewart placed second, he wasn’t satisfied.

“My coach wanted me to take some time off after season, but I’m itching to get back. So I did a little research and talked to some of my teammates and we are back on the mat Monday to head to Reno for the Rocky Mountain National Senior Max Sechena Events,” Stewart said.

It takes a lot to go to state wrestling, varsity wrestling, Coach Aaron Jensen explains, State wrestling team “You can’t just walk onto the mat as soon as the season starts. Wrestling is a year-round commitment,” Jensen said.

Photos taken on Feb. 2 “The kids that have continued to work from the end of last season to the start of the next are the ones who place and do

by Ashton Palen, sports editor well at state.”

(Top) Mike Brien (Bottom)Kai Stewart It seems that Stewart really fits the mold described by Jensen.

“In order to win you need to stay on the mat,” Jensen (Top) Mike Brien (Bottom) Kai Stewart

by Ashton Palen, sports editor a wrestling tradition to grow a mustache and have it at the said.

In any sport preparation is a must. Especially when state is state tournament,” Irish said. approaching, athletes have to be at the peak of their physical Irish, sophomore Kai Stewart, and junior Tony Walters performance. grew out their lip sweaters for state. A part of this tradition is 1. Flathead (Kalispell) Wrestling is no different -- wrestlers have to put their to dye them black.

2. Bozeman bodies and minds through grueling conditions in order to “Some people like it, some people don’t. I’ve had people 3. Billings Skyview have a chance at taking the state title in their weight class. call it many things. People have called it a caterpillar, and 4. Helena High School But there is a different way that some students prepared others say I look like I came from Super Troopers,” Irish said.

5. Helena Capital for their state performance. Students like senior Graydon Irish Although Irish lost in the second round of the tournament, 6. Billings Senior prepare for state by growing out the good ol’ crumb catcher. it wasn’t his mustache’s fault.

7. Missoula Big Sky/ Loyola Sacred Heart In order to boost the morale of the team and have a good “My poor state performance was my fault, nothing 8. Great Falls High School time, they grew out their Bristol Batons and dyed them the mustache-related. I just didn’t have my mind right,” he said 9. Butte High School school colors: black, green, and gold.

Irish has hope that Stewart will continue the tradition for 10. Missoula Sentinel Some may not have the facial chops to pull off a good ol’ next year.

11. Billings West bulletproof, but these wrestling pioneers can sure try. The “I think the tradition will continue. Hopefully Kai can find 12. Great Falls CMR man with the most prominent nose neighbor? Irish. more people to do it next year.”

13. Glacier (Kalispell) “We started to grow them in the middle of the season. It’s 14. Missoula Hellgate

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February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com

Sports

Springing sports Players getting ready for spring athletics into

by Gabrielle Pope, staff writer

Tennis

Senior Roy Munns is looking forward to a recently developed preseason with new tennis coach Anne Bulger, who he hopes can coach them to eligibility for state.

Munns doesn’t have much of an off season for tennis; he continues running and doing cardio workouts almost all year as well as practicing the sport at the country club twice a week.

“I’ve got to get my cardio going, I run so I don’t die on the court,” he said. So although in previous years there has been no open gym or preseason workouts, Munns is prepared for tennis season when it comes around.

Munns is working hard towards qualifying for state, and with more seniors on the team this year he thinks there will be a bigger chance of people making it.

“A lot of us have worked hard this year, and it is time for everyone’s hard work to pay off and for us to make it to state,” he said.

It is Munn’s last year to play tennis for CMR, and he is anticipating to crack down and work his hardest for his senior year.

According to Munns, open gyms have never been readily available for tennis players. Bulger hopes to change that and wants to work on establishing a preseason.

His second serve and consistency is what Munns will be focusing on before the season starts this year.

“On the court, I’ve been working on my second serve. Your second serve has to be consistent and in bounds to keep playing,” he said.

Munns is anticipating a lot of the seniors qualifying for state, which makes everyone happier.

Above: The Wranglers dance mid court for the pep assembly routine on Oct. 28, 2016.

Right: Senior Hailee Walker, freshman Chantell Dunn, senior Cali Modglin and sophomore Sydnie Garten perform.

Photos by Sarah Ljunggren.

Softball

Track & Field

Softball open gyms are an useful tool for third baseman and senior, Laura Belle Poitra.

“They help a whole lot,” she said, “They give you time to shape up your skills before the season.”

Coaches aren’t supposed to help the players as much during the preseason, therefor upperclassmen have to take the initiative to coach the younger players.

“I love being able to help them learn how to field and hit the way that Gustafson likes us to,” she said.

Poitra has been attending CMR open gyms since 8th grade because she knows that being there and putting the work in makes a big difference in how you play.

“I don’t miss it just because I don’t feel like going that day, I always go,” she said.

Poitra explains how this year there are a lot of freshmen who come to open gyms, and in general the girls who don’t make it are the ones who are in other sports right now.

“I like helping the freshmen and underclassmen. I just don’t like how it takes up the time that I could be using to fix my own techniques.”

Sophomore Tucker Greenwell has set his goals high for track and field this year. He’s working towards qualifying for state in high jump, long jump, triple jump and throwing the javelin.

Preseason for track is more focused on getting and staying in shape for the season and doesn’t focus as much on individual development of each event.

“Open gym is mainly like workouts like plyo workouts, not really too much track stuff, but just getting in shape,” he said.

Greenwell said that open gyms are helpful for those who may be out of shape for the upcoming season.

“I think that open gyms are beneficial just for people who haven’t done anything all year. It’s good to get going early, but I’m in basketball right now so I’m already running and jumping and working out everyday,” he said.

There are a lot of promising athletes participating in track this year, and Greenwell knows it.

“We have a lot of athletes back this year. We’ve only lost a couple. But there’s a lot of returning people who went to state so it should be a pretty good year,” he said.

As for his individual success, he is hoping for a good year but knows that nothing is set in stone. “I hope it’s better than last year, but we will have to see how it goes.”

Laura Belle Poitra, 12

Roy Munns, 12

Sophomore Jillian Painter, senior Hailee Walker, senior Cali Modglin, and sophomore Sydnie Garten dance at the Pep Assembly on Oct. 28, 2016.

Photo by Sarah Ljunggren.

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Tucker Greenwell, 10

A wrangle up on the CMR drill team

by Gabrielle Pope Wrangler captains Hailee Walker and Cali Modglin do more than just dance, they adapt.

With the new year comes changes that the new captains have had to adjust to. There are new ways of drill that the girls are learning and performing.

“The style of dance has changed a lot,” Modglin said.

“A long time ago, drill used to be dancing with batons and cowboy hats now drill is more of a modern dance.”

“I feel like my freshman through junior year were more of a drill style dance, and then this year I don’t think that Wranglers is as much of a drill team as it used to be,” Walker said.

Wranglers got a new coach this year, and in the process the girls think that the switch of coaches lead to a bit of change in the way they dance.

Walker says that she has a hard time with change, so becoming captain the same year they got a new coach was a lot of new things going on at once for her. “Personally, I struggle with change most, it’s always taken me awhile to adjust but this year I’m learning how to deal with it,” she said.

Everyone has points that they struggle with for Walker it is change and for Modglin it is saying what is on her mind.

“I am not good at speaking out, like I can see where a girl is messing up in a routine but it’s hard for me to tell her sometimes,” Modglin said.

The captains work well together because they even each other out, where one lacks the other takes initiative; with this can come varying viewpoints.

It isn’t much of a problem so much as a difference. One captain enjoys it while the other enjoys doing the dance more.

“I like being captain a lot, it’s a lot of work but I like it.

I’m not too much of a fan of making dances, but I like a lot of other aspects of being captain,” Modglin said.

Whereas Walker see’s it a little differently, “This year is a lot different, we get to make up our own dances and pick the music and everything and I think it’s actually pretty fun,” she said.

Walker would be nowhere close to where she is today if it weren’t for Modglin. Walker had transfer papers ready to go to Great Falls Central Catholic High School her freshman year, but Modglin pushed her to try out for Wranglers. She ended up trying out and making the team and decided not to transfer after all.

The girls help each other and are there for each other as well as the team.

“We do a lot as captains, and it doesn’t always seem like it, but I definitely think we do,” Walker said.

S

February 23, 2017 rustlernews.com 24

Back Page

Senior English students work to solve new world epidemic

What started as a class video, changed the way some students look on the world

by Jessica Banks, opinion editor When senior research project time came around, senior english teacher Scott Clapp decided to stray from his original plan of a Hamlet essay when he watched a series of Ted Talk’s on the world epidemic of plastic pollution. From these Ted Talks he decided that plastic pollution would be a better topic for his students research paper.

“What a cool opportunity to make a project where the kids could strive to make a difference,” Clapp said.

He said that there is so much research surrounding the plastic pollution issue. It is everywhere, there is plastic in landfills, plastic in waterways, even seagulls eat bottle caps made of plastic.

“When you look at data out there about plastic pollution it’s pretty horrifying,” Clapp said.

Not only has Clapp developed a passion for ridding the world of plastic pollution, it has inspired his students to make a change as well.

Students are doing such a variety of projects, from trying to eliminate plastic bag use in the entire state of Montana, to raising awareness through social media, each student has their own unique take on this project.

“I liked the empowerment that this project generated in students,” Clapp said.

Senior Sarah Benjamin is one of Clapp’s students who has become passionate about her research project.

Benjamin is working to get a legislation passed to ban one time use plastic bags in Great Falls. She plans on starting small just within the city and hoping to eventually eliminate plastic bags in the whole state.

“I love everything that has to do with law, I want to be a lawyer so this project is perfect for my interests and plastic pollution affects everyone and will affect our children and grow into a greater problem if we don’t do anything about it,” Benjamin said.

She plans on doing this by doing studies in Great Falls finding the percent of people who know that plastic pollution is a problem, percent of people who try to help, and percent of people who would stop using plastic bags to help.

“I would really love to be able to ban plastic bags, but if I can’t do that, then I just want people to see the bigger picture. People just need to be aware of the plastic that they use,” She said.

Benjamin isn’t the only who has the desire to take her project further than the essay due for english class.

Colton Rasmussen is one Clapp’s students, his project is about starting his own business to make Lacrosse heads of out recycled plastic.

“My project is seeing if I could take recycled plastic and make it into lacrosse equipment, lacrosse equipment is mostly completely plastic so I want to take plastic waste and make equipment out of that,” Rasmussen said.

He thought a lot about what he wanted to do for his project, in the end his original question and idea is what he did.

“[It] went from a question that I had proposed for my paper to getting to a point where I can design equipment using this plastic waste,” he said.

Rasmussen and his company isn’t the only potential business going on due to this project.

Clapp is selling bamboo straws in his class to prevent use of plastic straws. He says that in the United States we use 1 billion straws a day. Clapp hopes to bring this number down in his efforts to spread bamboo straw use.

“We decided we wanted to make a change 1 straw at a time,” Clapp said.

The hope to stop straw use came from watching a video in his class where people were trying to pull a straw that got stuck in a sea turtle’s nose out. He and his class all thought that the turtled seemed in pain because it was bleeding and making painful noise.

In efforts to “save the sea turtles” Clapp purchased some bamboo straws and started on the change.

He sells bamboo straws for one dollar, and these straws are reusable and not dangerous to the environment.

Rasmussen watched this turtle video and thought it was terrible because of the pain the turtle had to endure.

“It was a very disturbing video, seeing how much pain that turtle is in, most of the U.S. is landlocked so we don’t see the effect that goes on in the ocean.”

He isn’t alone in finding the sea turtle video disturbing, Benjamin said that this video was the saddest thing she has seen.

“I wouldn’t want to walk around with a straw in my nose, I can’t even imagine the amount of pain that turtle, and any other turtle or animal that has to experience something like that,” Benjamin said.

Due to this video, both Rasmussen and Benjamin have made changes to the way they live their lives and the plastic they use.

Benjamin sells bamboo silverware, and chico bags which are reuseable shopping bags.

“I would like to put a tax on one time use plastic water bottles, and then give those taxes to those who help with picking up plastic, or with the plastic pollution problem with studies and other projects like that,” she said.

She hates the disrespect people have towards our planet and wants to see a change in that mentality.

“There are so many ignorant people who don’t pay attention to the plastic plague that’s destroying our planet and the animals amongst it,” Benjamin said.

Clapp is glad that he was able to start a flame in these students when dealing with the issue of plastic pollution, he says that these steps can start to create a change and that is what we need.

“If we don’t make some changes fairly quickly our world could be in trouble.”

The bamboo straw trend

“I think bamboo straws are really cool.

They are a great way to keep the world green. It is a great source to replace plastic straws, they are reuseable, washable, and work just as well as any straw.”

- Isaiah Vang “I [think bamboo straws] are a great idea. It help[s] raise awareness to the subject of wasteful plastics such as plastic straws and finds people who want to do more to fight this problem.”

Scott Clapp

- Matt Harris

“Plastic straws are more harmful to the environment than more people know. So by making an effort in our school to be more plastic free it could snowball into a worldwide change.”

- Amberlie Kuglin

“I never use straws so the bamboo ones don’t really impact me, but the plastic [pollution] problem is so large, every little bit helps.”

- Kyle Korb