The Howl
Left to Right:
Shelby High School students Grayson Barker, Bash Rosales, Ivan Wickum, Kobe Hooker, Delaney Clark, Addison Richman, Calista Calvery, Cameron Blevins, Penelope Heaton, and Aeris Stewart competed at the Principal's Cup Academic Trivia Bowl March 22nd
Shelby High Students Recognized at Principal's Cup Academic Challenge
by Shelby High School Journalism Class
On Friday, March 22, ten students–two teams– representing each grade level from Shelby High School traveled to Simms High School to compete in the Region II Principal’s Cup academic trivia challenge. Annually, schools from AA, A, B, and C schools in central Montana meld multi-grade level teams of bright and knowledgeable students to duel in an academic battle of the minds.
The event started at 9 am with individual awards for students who ranked in the top 10 of all students for each grade level. Notably, both freshman students from Shelby placed in the top 10 for individual test scores. Aeris Stewart placed 10th and Grayson Barker placed 4th. Barker joyously told his teammates, “This is going on the fridge!” when he received his certificate with a smile.
At the beginning of the day, the Principal's Cup committee also awards two seniors with $500 scholarships. This year, Shelby student Delaney Clark was awarded one of these scholarships. Clark said she applied for the scholarship but was surprised when her name was called. “I appreciate how the principal’s from Region II fund a scholarship to support students even after the move on to college,” Clark said. Principal Kyle Fisher proudly congratulated her.
After individual awards were given, student teams dispersed into selected rooms to compete against other schools in a series of rounds that follow a bracket.
Thumbs ready to press the red button and be the first team to buzz in, each team of 5 students size up the opposing school and nervously wait for the first of the 16 random questions. Freshman Aeris Stewart, who competed for the first time this year said, “it was nerve racking at first, but then it started to feel like a fun game of Jeopardy.”
Prior to the competition, individual students took a proctored and timed 100 question test based on random trivia questions in Math, Science, History, English, and Fine Arts. Then, the individual scores are compiled to create a team score for seeding purposes. Each of the school’s teams are placed in a bracket with several rounds of trivia questions.
In the weeks leading up to the event, academic advisors Sanna Clark and Kristi Calvery held lunch practices for students. Students also spent time reviewing books and authors, math equations, and science terminology. Some students also read short biographies of scientists and important people in history. Clark also used the time to explain to students the rules and scoring: 5pts for correct answers, and negative 2pts. for incorrect answers.
The competition is fun for students, but teacher Kristi Calvery said she also believes it is significant and beneficial for schools to continue. “There are many reasons why I believe this competition is important. First, it creates a comradery among our students, who all have an eclectic set of knowledge and experiences: Kobe Hooker may solve a math equation, Aeris Stewart might know the author of a novel, and Grayson Barker knows how many pieces are in a chess game. I also believe it cultivates motivation for students to learn more. This year our students scored very closely with many of schools, and they put in tremendous effort,” Calvery said.
Principal’s Cup has been an annual event for 21 years, and Principal Fisher said he looks forward to it every year. “Principal Cup is always a fun day for our students to showcase their academic skills. I am proud of our students for the hard work they put in and representing Shelby High School well.”
Senior, Delaney Clark received a $500 scholarship at the Region II Principal's Cup Academic Trivia Bowl March 22nd
Delaney Clark receiving her Scholarship from Regional II Principal's Cup Vice President Paul Wilson
School-Based Clinic Opens to support Shelby Students and Staff
by Adele Lamb
This past week, the Marias Clinic partnered with Shelby Public Schools to open the first on campus clinic thanks to the Montana HealthCare Foundation. The clinic, which is right in between the elementary and junior-senior high school is open for all students and staff and is equipped to help with a variety of healthcare needs.
This clinic was started by the Montana Healthcare Foundation as one of their initiatives. The Montana Healthcare initiatives' mission statement is to provide health services in school settings to help kids miss less school and support better academic outcomes. The group supports partnerships between schools and health care providers to create school-based health centers in communities that need them most.
Shelby is just one among many schools who have these new clinics. According to the Montana Healthcare Foundation Website, currently they have supported the startup of school-based health centers that serve 58 of the state’s highest-need schools.
Superintendent Elliott Crump reported that the Board approved the on site clinic on June 13, 2023. “The Board felt there was sufficient need within the district to offer this service: and as such, the Board approved the clinic,” Crump said.
The clinic is open Monday - Friday at 8:00 - 4:30 but closes at 3:30 on Fridays. Brook Dager, Lead School Practitioner, said the clinic offers primary care needs for things like illness, asthma, diabetes, or other conditions. She said the clinic can also give first aid and help in emergency situations.
Dager also said the clinic offers counseling and psychiatric care. Counselors are available several days a week, so students can easily access counseling during the school day.
The Center for Disease Control published a report after the 2021 Youth Behavior Risk Survey results were released that concluded: a comprehensive public health approach is needed for suicide prevention with attention to disproportionately affected populations.
Since the clinic is just opening– many students, parents and teachers are wondering how it works. Dager said students can come to the clinic by appointment or by walk-in basis. She said students do need to have a signed parent waiver form. However, in case of emergency the clinic can send out an email for parents or guardians to docusign. The purpose of the waiver is for students to go to the clinic without a parent being present. Forms can be picked up at the school office or the clinic.
One student, a freshman, Regan Torgerson said that having a clinic outside the school is beneficial for students.
Crump and the District hope the clinic will be able to provide access to students and staff who might not have had access for their healthcare needs. This addition is hoped to be an advantage and contingency for everyone.
Dual-Sport Athletes Juggle with Priorities
by: Brendan Clark
February 28, 2023
As students consider choices about spring sports participation, some students are wrestling with their priorities and weighing how much they can handle. The school district allows students to participate in two sports because there are many advantages. It allows students to have multiple opportunities to explore their interests and connect with a team, and it helps teams increase numbers to be competitive. However, the impact of participating in two sports comes with limited time for academics and extracurriculars.
Several athletes indicated that their grades were affected by doing two sports at the same time last spring. Both track and golf often have meets during the school week, so students often miss school to compete. Junior student athlete, Kyle McDermott said, “I missed so much school and that affected my grades in a bad way, and it was hard to make up.”
Math teacher and class advisor, Sanna Clark, stated that part of the struggle that students have is missing the in person lesson. She said, “students probably miss class at least once a week with it being usually all day with track or golf.” She also added, “I think most kids appreciate being in class for the lecture and discussion. Without this, it makes it hard for them to do their work.”
Besides school absences and the consequent make-up work, it also can affect an athlete's performance and their time availability to be coached. Sophomore student athlete Reese Lee said, “It affected my golf performance because I only went to golf meets. I would be spending 1 out of 5 days for golf and the weekend varied, but I didn’t practice as much as everyone else was able to.”
Head track coach, Brennan Hayes, emphasized the challenges he faced as a coach while sharing athletes with another sport. He said it put limits on his ability to help prepare athletes for meets and sign them up for events: “It does change the way I plan for some competitions because I may not have the athletes at a particular meet, meaning I am using different athletes than originally planned. At times this gives the other athletes on the team an opportunity to step up. But it also means that the two-sport athlete is losing competition,” he said.
The school calendar for March through May rarely has an unoccupied day. Besides the sports schedule, students are also in clubs, volunteer projects, and other activities. Not only are students missing school for spring sports, but many are also involved in one, if not more, clubs or classes that have competitions or educational field-trips. In totality, it all amounts to a large hole in their attendance and tampers with their ability to fully learn the material that is being taught according to both Lee and McDermott.
With all of the activities and sports that students are able to participate in that impact school attendance, student athletes should purposefully organize their priorities as well as their time. Hayes is a teacher as well as a coach, and he understands the choices that student athletes have to make. He advises, “I would encourage the athletes to make sure they understand the responsibility and dedication it takes to do two sports at one time and to make sure they can handle that commitment.” Hayes said ultimately it is the student’s choice: “ [I] will always support the athletes in whatever decision they make and give them my full support and help them succeed in any way I can.” For some students, it might be in their best interest to invest time where it is most meaningful and consider what is reasonable to juggle. Usually, it requires finding a balance between their academics, sports, and extracurriculars.
Lady Coyotes Take 1st at District Tournaments
Bud Richard and Enrico Gandini
Shelby Lady Coyotes took first at District Tournaments in Cut Bank on February 16-18. A celebrated win that hasn't taken in 20 years for the Lady Coyotes.
Roof repairs started in September over the main staircase, library, and several classrooms.
Photo by: Maja Slavik
SHS Student Council with local Veterans for the annual Veteran's Day Progam on Friday, November 11th.
Congratulations to Voice of Democracy Essay Winners!
1st Place: Evan Clarke
2nd Place: Kirstyn McCurdie
3rd Place: Paige Looney
SHS Roof Repairs in Progress Despite Weather Challenges
by: Brendan Clark and Cade Alexander
The Shelby High School and Junior High building is getting a new roof just in time for inclement weather. Well, sort of. The school had trouble finding available contractors, so work started in September. Unfortunately, the late start caused leaks and damage to the library on October 11th after a violent storm.
Librarian, Karen Watson, said that she saw and smelled the damage immediately when she walked into the library. There was a horrible wet tile smell, and one of the tiles was on the floor in pieces. She said, “we lost 246 books,” and added that many of them were from the science section.
The construction is being done by Platinum Peak Construction, which is a company located out of Billings. According to Superintendent Elliott Crump, Platinum Peak plans to replace all of the damaged books as well as the ceiling tiles in the library.
Principal Kyle Fisher said, “they plan on working on one-third of the roof now and picking back up this spring or summer.” The school decided to prioritize the classroom roofs which have the most potential for catastrophe.
Superintendent Crump said the funding for the project came from 3 places: insurance dollars, interlocal agreement dollars, and building reserve funds.
According to Superintendent Crump, the money from insurance dollars came from when the school’s insurance company inspected the damage to the roof after a wind storm and provided the District with funding to replace the wind-damaged areas a few years ago.
The interlocal agreement dollars are money from the end of the 2022 fiscal year when Shelby Schools put additional general fund dollars into an interlocal fund. By putting money into this fund, they were able to save the money to use on future projects.
Building reserve funds come every year from local taxpayers who pay into a Building Reserve Fund which allows the district to maintain buildings. This year they are spending those funds on the roofing project.
With the construction moving along it can be hard for students and staff to continue learning and teaching. Much of the work was done overhead Business Teacher, Lexi Fisher’s classroom. She said, “It’s really loud. When they first started over my area the fumes were really bad from the machines they were using, and so we relocated classrooms for 3 or 4 days.”
Although students have noticed the work at times, it hasn’t been a complete disruption. Sophomore, Ryland Larson said that it was sort of hard to focus very occasionally, but eventually, he got used to it.
As the weather permits, the construction crew has worked diligently to prevent more damage to school property and to finish the construction on the first third of the roof. The plan is to finish the remaining portions of the roof during the spring and summer.
The school district plans to hire a design consulting company later this year for further important high school renovations now that the elementary building is paid off.