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Why Not Be Great?

Why Not Be Great?

by admin | Sep 24, 2025 | Freedom, Kids, Montana, Parenting, Public School Kids, Public Schools

Every week it feels like we’re being pulled further apart, but sit in a room with people from all walks of life, looking at each other instead of screens, and you’ll find common ground. We’d laugh, argue, cry, but mostly we’d be surprised by how much we share. We’ve...
Why Not Be Great?

Tom Peterman, Conrad High School

by admin | Jun 8, 2025 | Education, Fitness, Freedom, Montana, Parenting, Profiles, Public School Kids, Public Schools, Sports

Tom Peterman Retired Lutheran Pastor Conrad High School, Class of 1964 My dad grew up in Conrad, Montana – the only boy of six kids. His mom waitressed and his dad worked for Cargill. Grandpa Peterman left school after 6th grade to help on the family farm and...
Why Not Be Great?

Welcome to Public School Kids!

by admin | May 11, 2025 | Education, Freedom, Kids, Montana, Parenting, Public School Kids, Public Schools

Hi, I’m Erika – a Montana public school kid, mom to two public school kids (ages 17 and 21), and the producer of Public School Kids. On this Mother’s Day, I’m thinking about what I want most for my kids and for all Montana kids. For many of us – if we’re lucky...

Recent Posts

  • Tammi Fisher
  • Freedom Week: Popular Sovereignty
  • Why Not Be Great?
  • Let’s Be Our Best
  • Monica Gilles-BringsYellow

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    Recent Posts

    • Tammi Fisher
    • Freedom Week: Popular Sovereignty
    • Why Not Be Great?
    • Let’s Be Our Best
    • Monica Gilles-BringsYellow

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    public.school.kids

    A statewide initiative that champions the freedom and opportunity public schools create for Montana kids.

    Keep ‘em free. Keep ‘em public. Keep ‘em Ame Keep ‘em free. Keep ‘em public. Keep ‘em American. 🇺🇸#publicschoolkids #publicschoolkid #montana
    Tammi Fisher is, in her own words, “a product of Tammi Fisher is, in her own words, “a product of opportunity. Not just in what was given to me, but in what was demanded of me. Montana public schools made me believe in my ability to figure it out - and that’s what true freedom looks like.”

#publicschoolkid #publicschoolkids #montana #kalispell
    Tammi Fisher’s story is one of Montana resilienc Tammi Fisher’s story is one of Montana resilience and a belief in opportunity, responsibility, and the power of public schools to prepare kids for life.

As a kid, Tammi moved often, to Glasgow, Simms, Great Falls, and out of state. Being the new kid gave her an instinct to stand up for others. “I hate bullies. I always appreciated when kids were kind to me,” she says. “And I’d stand up to bullies on their behalf. That felt good, and it stuck.”

Her Montana education, she says, set her apart: “I was always ahead when I left Montana for another state, and always behind when I came back to Montana. There’s no doubt I got a gold-star public education that gave me far more opportunity than I would have had elsewhere.”

But it wasn’t handed to her. In high school, she worked full time at Scheels and Kinney Shoes to pay for her own apartment. She was so broke she couldn’t afford sliced bread, so most nights she cut loaves, spread margarine, and fried them up for dinner. In college and law school, she juggled jobs cleaning dorms, working as an RA, and bartending at the Elbow Room. “I had a great group of regulars who would read me legal cases and quiz me,” she laughs.

Through it all, she saw how public schools build resilience. “We’ve insulated our kids so much that they don’t always know how to get into a problem and work their way out of it. That’s life. That’s what Montana schools gave me: the grittiness to figure things out.”

Montana history also shaped her. She credits her 5th grade teacher in Glasgow, Craig Brayko, with instilling a respect for Montana’s past. “If you don’t know that women had the right to vote in Montana before the U.S., and that the woman who ushered in the right to vote nationally was from Montana, how can you really appreciate Montana?”

Today, as host of the Montana Values podcast, an attorney, and co-founder of Gap Fillers Flathead, Tammi continues to push for fairness and opportunity rooted in Montana grit. “I am a product of opportunity - not just in what was given to me, but in what was demanded of me. Montana public schools made me believe in my ability to figure it out, and that’s what true freedom looks like.”
    Instagram post 17847026025571388 Instagram post 17847026025571388
    Happy Freedom Week, Montana! #publicschoolkid #pub Happy Freedom Week, Montana! #publicschoolkid #publicschoolkids #montana publicschoolproud #montana #helena #missoula #billingsmontana #kalispell #wolfpoint #greatfalls #greatfallsmontana #bozeman
    We are all public schools kids. #publicschool #mon We are all public schools kids. #publicschool #montana #publicschoolkid #publicschoolkids #billingsmt #billingsmontana #missoula #helena #montana #bozeman #greatfalls #kalispell #cutbank #havre #milescity #shelby #wolfpoint
    This year, the Montana Legislature designated the This year, the Montana Legislature designated the last full week of September as Celebrate Freedom Week in our public schools. Districts are required to honor the sacrifices made for freedom and highlight the constitutional principles at the heart of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. and Montana Constitutions.

Next week, Public School Kids will join the conversation by exploring what freedom means today. We’ll reflect on what the colonists were seeking freedom from, the rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, and the unique freedoms found in Montana’s Constitution.

We’ll feature a UM constitutional law professor on fundamental rights, a public lands advocate on how our lands protect and create freedom, and we’ll spotlight Montana’s promise to ensure every student can reach their full potential through a guaranteed quality education.

Until then, we’d love to hear from you: What makes you feel free?

Show your support for public schools - and the promise that every Montana kid deserves the freedom to become their best self - by grabbing a tee or sweatshirt today! www.publicschoolkids.org

#freedom #freedomfighter #montanafreedom #montanalove #montana #montanalife #publicschoolkids #publicschoolkid #montanakids #americanfreedom #fundamentalrights #constitution #406 #406life
    Every week it feels like we’re being pulled furt Every week it feels like we’re being pulled further apart, but sit in a room with people from all walks of life, looking at each other instead of screens, and you’ll find common ground. We’d laugh, argue, cry, but mostly we’d be surprised by how much we share. We’ve all felt that spark of connection with someone we never expected.

And most of us first felt that in public school. Public schools create common ground by bringing together kids from every kind of family and background. We share the same teachers, the same cafeterias, the same awkward years of growing up. Those experiences - farting in class, tripping in the halls, getting yelled at by a teacher, and still showing up the next day - taught us what it means to be human, to keep going, to keep connecting.

But today, our so-called “online communities” do the opposite. They’re designed to divide us, to amplify the loudest and most extreme voices, while the rest of us either stay quiet or get pulled along. The result? A culture of “Burn!” moments, quick hits of conflict that make Big Tech richer while making us poorer, in both spirit and community.

That’s not who we are. And it’s not who we want to be.

That’s why Public School Kids was created: a statewide initiative that champions our communities and the freedom and opportunity public schools create for Montana kids. It’s about remembering the values that unite us - honesty, fairness, opportunity - and asking a simple question: How do we give every Montana kid the best shot at success?

In the coming weeks you’ll hear from Montana public school kids past and present, from Robin Selvig to Chrysti “the Wordsmith” Smith to Ryan “Ol’ Cal” Callaghan, and learn how their experiences shaped them. We’ll explore how public schools are essential to freedom, and how Montana’s Constitution guarantees every child the right to a quality education and the chance to reach their full potential. Over the next year, we’ll ask whether Montana is keeping that promise and if not, how we can.

Montana is the greatest place on Earth. Let’s make sure every Montana kid has the chance to become the greatest version of themselves. Join us. Donate. Be part of the story.
    Instagram post 18055291787407148 Instagram post 18055291787407148
    Just in time for the first day of school…we've g Just in time for the first day of school…we've got new merch! Hoodies + scoop neck tees! 🔥

They’re awesome and honestly, I haven’t worn one yet without someone asking, “Where did you get that?”

Snag yours today as a reminder of how cool it is to be a Public School Kid. 

Link in bio and here: https://publicschoolkids.org/#merch

#PublicSchoolKids #BackToSchoolStyle #SupportPublicSchools #MontanaMade #CommunityStrong #publicschoolkid #montanalife #montanamatters #montanalovespublicschools #publicschool #publicschools
    Monica Gilles-BringsYellow Great Falls High Class Monica Gilles-BringsYellow
Great Falls High
Class of 1999

Monica didn’t grow up in a typical Great Falls family. Her mom was from Mexico and didn’t speak English and her dad - a farmer turned journalist - did the ag report for the Great Falls Tribune. Monica often tagged along on his reporting trips, stopping to dig dinosaur bones or to read about Montana history. “We would stop at every single historical plaque,” she remembers, “and I would have to read it out loud, no matter how many times we went there.”

After high school, Monica moved to Missoula - calling it “the promised land” - to attend UM while working full time in a group home or fighting wildfires in the summer. Coming from a low-income family, she felt pressure to get a “real job” so she chose to major in history and become a teacher, not just to earn a living, but to investigate unanswered questions. “I never understood why I grew up learning about the Cherokee and the Trail of Tears when almost every tribe in Montana was represented in my classroom,” she said. “Or why it’s called a ‘battle’ when the Army massacres 200 Native women and children while their men are off hunting?”

When a series of budget cuts eliminated her teaching jobs - from Desmet to Missoula to Polson - Monica decided to pursue a Master’s in Social Work. Today, she works as a therapist for three group homes in Butte, supporting kids with significant mental health needs. Her commitment to helping others runs deep, and she often challenges the myth of rugged individualism so often romanticized in Montana. “My grandma was a rancher, but one person cannot be a rancher. You can’t manage all of it. You have to rely on your neighbors.” For her, it’s simple: “Our job as people is to make things better for other people.”

Although most know Monica as an artist, that part of her journey began almost by accident, with the blank walls of her therapy office. She couldn’t find art she liked, or could afford, so she started making her own. Now, she laughs that she couldn’t afford her own work either. But, like Monica, her art is grounded in community, rooted in lived experience, and driven by the belief that every voice deserves to be heard.
    Land Tawney Conservationist Sentinel High School, Land Tawney
Conservationist
Sentinel High School, 1993

Most people know Land Tawney as one of the fiercest advocates for public lands and backcountry conservation. But I first knew him as my 3rd grade pen pal. Our teachers paired students from Lewis & Clark and Russell to write letters - I was matched with Land, a name I’d never heard and could barely decipher through his handwriting. But that name came to reflect the core values of our public spaces: freedom, fairness, and community.

His 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Wagner, first instilled this sense of fairness. “If you acted out, it didn’t matter who you were, you were held to the same standard as everyone else,” he said. “Fairness,” he added, “connects to how we think about opportunity, how we spend our tax dollars, and whether we’re really giving every kid an equal shot.”

Land remembers the bus rides to school as formative, not for the drama, but for the daily sense of community. “Every single kid that got on that bus I knew really well...I’m still friends with people I rode the bus with, which is kind of crazy to think about.” It was his first lesson in connection across income and background. Money didn’t matter, “we were just classmates.”

His favorite high school teacher? “Hal Stearns, by far. He taught Montana history. Growing up here, I’ve always loved Montana, but he made me fall in love with Montana.” What set Stearns apart was how deeply he cared. “He started every class by asking, ‘How are you doing today?’ And we had to give a thumbs up, a thumbs down, or a mugwump” - the term for a mediocre day. “It wasn’t a gimmick, he really cared, he wanted to know how you were doing, not just as a student, but as a person.” That lesson stuck: when people feel seen and valued, they’re more engaged.

Land has spent his career living out those values. He has created a big tent where people of all backgrounds can come together in support of public lands and waters, where everyone has the freedom to hunt, fish, and roam. A level playing field. And maybe that’s the quiet legacy of public school kids like Land - learning what it means to be part of something bigger and then spending a life building that for others.
    Barbara Van Cleve Photographer and Educator Sweet Barbara Van Cleve
Photographer and Educator
Sweet Grass County High School, 1953

If freedom had a voice, it would sound like Barbara Van Cleve’s - full of laughter, wisdom, and possibility. And if it could see, it would look like the view from her home: the Absaroka, Crazy, and Beartooth Mountains stretching wide in every direction. Barbara’s life is a testament to what public education offers - the freedom to chart your own course and the hard work and courage it takes to do it.

Born in 1935 and raised on the Lazy K Bar Ranch near Melville, Montana, Barbara’s childhood reads like a Western novel. She was responsible for 98 horses and rode to school on horseback, 45 minutes each way. “Unless I was dilly-dallying around,” she says, “which was my inclination.”

In winter, neighbors took turns hooking up sleighs to collect the handful of kids who made up the one-room schoolhouse. “It was really booming if we had 12,” she laughs. Her closest friends? “Horses,” she says matter-of-factly. 

At 11, she saw Life magazine for the first time and begged her parents for a camera. “I couldn’t draw or paint, and I thought, how will I show people how wonderful this life is?” That camera never left her hand or her saddle.

After graduating from Sweet Grass County High School, and then college in Illinois, Barbara told her parents she was going to be a photographer. They encouraged teaching, so she earned a master’s in English at Northwestern University and taught for 25+ years at schools like DePaul and Loyola, spending summers on the ranch with her horses and her camera.

But in 1980, she made the leap to photography. By 1985, her first solo show launched a legendary career: 60+ solo shows and over 100 group exhibitions, all shot from horseback in Sweet Grass County. 

She was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1995 and won the Wrangler Award in 2016. A documentary of her life premieres this year.

“I only cared about two things: horses and photography. It was a wonderful life.”

 And how lucky we are that she shared it.
    In 1908, President Teddy Roosevelt issued an execu In 1908, President Teddy Roosevelt issued an executive order mandating that Marine officers complete a 50-mile hike in under 20 hours. He believed fitness was essential to leadership.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy found that order and turned it into a national challenge.

Which turned into the 50-Mile Frenzy.

People of all ages, from all backgrounds started walking 50 miles within days of his announcement.

The Physical Fitness Council even issued a warning that “Anyone contemplating hiking 50 miles against time should be in good physical condition, should be in training, and should see a physician before starting out.”

My dad was one of the people who took up the challenge. That spring, he and a friend ran from Vaughn Junction to Conrad, MT - 50 miles in under 8 hours. According to the paper, when they returned “they had eaten two candy bars and a half sandwich during the whole trip, and now they quickly downed two large soft drinks. The night before they had played tennis and basketball for about three hours, and put in a poor night sleep that was interrupted at 4:30 a.m. for the start of their trip.”

In other parts of the U.S., the largest 50-miler was organized by the student body president of Redwood High School in Marin County, CA, and included over 400 kids.

My favorite account is this one from Nebraska:

“A 26-year-old mother of three, from Lincoln, Nebraska, Pauline Domico, set off on her own 50-mile hike from Lincoln to the Missouri River at 3:45 p.m., just three days after the AP article was published. She called it her ‘March to Missouri,’ and carried a 20-pound duffle bag with a change of clothes, shoes, flashlight, candy bars and sandwiches.”

❤️
    Tom Peterman Retired Lutheran Pastor Conrad High S Tom Peterman
Retired Lutheran Pastor
Conrad High School, Class of 1964

My dad grew up in Conrad, Montana - the only boy of six kids. His mom waitressed and his dad worked for Cargill. Grandpa Peterman left school after 6th grade to help on the family farm and Grandma made it to 8th.

In junior high, my dad ran with a rougher crowd - stealing hubcaps was their rite of passage - but he loved school. And school loved him back. At the end of his sophomore year, his teachers gave him the Heisey Award for “outstanding improvement in citizenship, scholarship, and effort.” He was, in his words, “absolutely shocked” that they had chosen him.

But that recognition changed everything.

He felt seen, believed in. And he rose to it. By senior year, he was class president, football captain, and voted Most Popular. He became part of the first generation in his family to graduate high school and the first to go to college.

The morning he finalized his college application, my grandpa signed the paperwork and left for work. But just before walking out the door, he turned to my dad and said:“Remember, son, there’s sit-down smarts and there’s walking-around smarts. You’re going to need them both.”

Those were the last words he ever said to him.

That afternoon, while my dad was playing football in Browning, his pastor showed up at halftime to deliver the heartbreaking news that his dad had died on the job - electrocuted in a grain bin.

After the funeral, as they were driving into the cemetery, my dad looked back and saw cars stretching more than three miles. “Most of the school was there,” he told me. “Teachers I never even had.”

Conrad High School changed my dad’s life. It gave him opportunity and encouragement, plus a community that showed up for him when he needed it most. 

He went on to spend his life lifting others up, building churches and communities while fighting for the most generous version of inclusivity. He’s humble, kind, sharp, and endlessly resourceful. He rarely speaks unkindly of others, because more than anything, he wants everyone to live a meaningful life.

He’s truly Montana-made and we’re lucky to have him.
    Hi, I’m Erika - a Montana public school kid, mom Hi, I’m Erika - a Montana public school kid, mom to two public school kids (ages 17 and 21), and the producer of Public School Kids.

On this Mother’s Day, I’m thinking about what I want most for my kids and for all Montana kids. For many of us, our mom’s love is the first kind of freedom we ever know: the freedom to be seen, to feel safe, to belong. Public School Kids is about how we make sure every Montana kid has that same freedom. It’s about how we create schools and communities where all kids are seen, safe, know they belong and have the chance to become the best versions of themselves. 

For me, it starts with that freedom. And moms know freedom in a way few others do - because we know what it feels like to give it up so our kids can thrive. And maybe the greatest love a mom can give her kids is the freedom to become exactly who they’re meant to be.

But how do we make sure every Montana kid has that freedom?

That’s what Public School Kids is here to explore. 

Happy Mother’s Day.
    I just watched Court of Gold, a documentary on the I just watched Court of Gold, a documentary on the top 4 men’s basketball teams at the 2024 Olympics. During practice, U.S. coach Steve Kerr said something that stuck with me:

“Joy in others’ success—that’s the key to winning.”

He’s right. That joy is what makes strong teams, strong schools, strong communities, and strong families. When we have each other’s backs, we all move forward.

That’s the heart of Public School Kids, a series I’m producing to celebrate the people and places shaped by Montana’s public schools. Through video, portraits, and podcast interviews, we’re telling stories of artists, athletes, ranchers, business owners, teachers, and more—woven together to show what it means to grow up here.

We’re tackling everything from smartphones in schools to Montana’s teacher shortage, youth sports, and the fight to keep creativity in the curriculum.

At a time when so much pulls us apart, this series brings us back together—reminding us of where we come from and the values that connect us.

This is a group project and I’d love your support:
👕 Buy a shirt (publicschoolkids.org)
💬 Nominate a Montana public school kid
🎙️ Suggest podcast topics or guests

Welcome to Public School Kids!
    We’re excited to announce the launch of our Publ We’re excited to announce the launch of our Public School Kid t-shirts, designed to celebrate and support the incredible teachers and students in our public schools. Every purchase goes directly to initiatives that support a thriving public school system.

Show your pride in your public school education and stand with public school kids in Montana and across the nation. Whether you’re a student, a graduate, or a supporter, these tees are a perfect way to celebrate your roots and give back to the community. 🌟

Grab yours today and give every kid the freedom to thrive!

Link in bio! www.publicschoolkids.org
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