Profiles
Nearly 90 percent of Americans go to public school. It’s where we become what we’re going to be – and where we learn to build the nation we share.
These are our stories.
Brooks Barnes
When I asked Brooks about his favorite teacher growing up in Billings, he warned me about his answer. “Most people, if I said ‘Mrs. Will’, would recoil in horror and start shouting expletives. She was mean.” But sometimes “mean” is the opposite of what it seems in...
Ryan “Ol’ Cal” Callaghan
Ryan "Ol' Cal" Callaghan Missoula, MT Ryan “Ol’ Cal” Callaghan grew up in Missoula at a time when the Rattlesnake still felt like a neighborhood wilderness and a place where everyone could afford to live. Born in Billings to a mom from Lockwood and a dad from...
Chrysti “the Wordsmith” Smith
Chrysti “the Wordsmith” Smith - Poplar and Billings, MT Before she became Chrysti the Wordsmith, our beloved guide into the hidden lives of words, Chrysti Smith was a horse-crazy girl growing up on the Hi-Line. Born in Culbertson after her mom went into labor in...
Robin Selvig
Robin Selvig - Outlook, Montana Robin Selvig grew up in a town most Montanans have never heard of and even fewer have ever seen. Outlook, a tiny farming community on the Hi-Line in the northwestern-most corner of the state, had about 150 people when Selvig was a kid...
Tammi Fisher
Tammi Fisher Attorney. Former Mayor of Kalispell. Podcast host. Community advocate. Great Falls High, Class of 1994 Tammi Fisher’s story is one of Montana grit and a fierce belief in opportunity, responsibility, and the power of public schools to prepare kids for...
Monica Gilles-BringsYellow
Monica Gilles-BringsYellow Great Falls High Class of 2000 Monica didn’t grow up in a typical Great Falls family. Her mom was from Mazatlán, Mexico and didn’t speak English and her dad - a farmer turned journalist - did the ag report for the Great Falls Tribune. Monica...
Land Tawney – 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...
Barbara Van Cleve – Sweet Grass County High
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,...
Tom Peterman, Conrad High School
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...
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