Jared Bonvell, one of the new cheer coaches, decided to help out for one major reason.

“What I saw in the team was that they need some of the skills that I have to get better,” he said.

Bonvell specifically describes these skills as being able to get along well with people.

“The biggest thing that I wanted to accomplish when I became a coach was to eliminate the drama,” he said.

Unlike Bonvell, new girls basketball coach Brian Crosby rarely got to watch the girls play because he was always coaching the boys at the same times. Even so, there was one thing that stuck out to him during the games he could attend.

“I always thought they played hard. That’s the biggest thing for me,” he said.

He said he is excited for the coming season, and believes that the girls can be great.

“I know there [are] a lot of kids back; we only graduated two seniors, so that gives us a lot of hope to hit the ground running,” he said.

Incoming volleyball coach Stephanie Anderson also has confidence in her girls’ abilities.

“I look forward to this season. There’s good talent at the school now and good talent coming in,” she said.

She said that mostly what she expects from the girls is hard work.

“I mean beating the teams we are capable of beating and just being competitive against the teams that are maybe a little above us,” Anderson said.

In general, these three coaches’ expectations will help to lead their teams higher and possibly to victory.

“I hope I’m part of that.”

After the events that took place in 2012’s “The Avengers,” Robert Downey Jr. returns with another amzing performance in the third installment of the “Iron Man” series. Was this addition worth it?

Tony Stark is well known for his egotistical attitude toward pretty much everything in his life. Up until the events of the first movie, he cared only for himself. While this attitude doesn’t change too much, he learns to accept the responsibility of protecting those around him. In the latest section of the story arc, Stark has to fight an enemy that makes his suit seem, well, weak. He also makes up for poor decisions he made in the past.

He is falling apart and trying to cover it up by building more and more suits (he is up to mk. 42). The only thing that is keeping him together is his girlfriend Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Events later in the story force Stark to acknowledge he is only human and needs outside help. In the end, Stark makes a decision that many may be skeptical about, but it shows how far he has come as a character.

The “Iron Man” series has had an ongoing story of Stark during and after the creation of the Ironman suit. The first film in 2008 created an excellent origin story that everybody could get behind. The events of the second film were almost unnecessary. The only lasting impact left by the second film in 2010 is the new arc reactor Stark created. The third and (hopefully) final piece of the story arc has a dramatic amount of development that will have an everlasting impact on the Marvel timeline.

The movie clocks in at 130 minutes and rates in at PG-13 for violence and suggestive themes. It also has a new director, Shane Black, along with Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, CEO of Advanced Idea Mechanics or AIM and the other villion.

If you enjoyed the first installment or cool sci-fi action movies, then this is a must-see.

“If I can teach them self-esteem and self-respect and respect for one another, that’s my goal,” CMR Advisement Assistant and Color Guard coach Velma Jordan said.

The CMR Color Guard is dedicated to presenting the flags at school functions and fostering school spirit. It has been a part of the school since it opened, when CMR guard members rode horses onto the football field at games while Great Falls High brought a white bison, a tradition that ended shortly before Jordan began coaching in 1980.

She said school spirit was at a different level during those times, when nearly every seat was filled at basketball and football games.

“The kids don’t come out like they used to,” she said.

Jordan said she remembers a time when 90 students would try out for Color Guard, and 30 would make the team. Now the team is smaller, consisting of four members, but it is as active as it has always been.

“We probably present the colors 55 times a year,” she said.

The team meets year-round on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30-4:30 p.m., beginning practices before school starts in August in preparation for football season, and ending with softball in the spring. Jordan said she works with students’ schedules so those in other extracurricular activities can participate on the team.

Other than committing a few hours of practice and performance a week and a current year’s physical, Jordan said there aren’t any strict requirements to join Color Guard.

“You don’t have to have a certain body frame or anything; just a desire to do it,” she said.

The team said they welcome anyone who wants to join.

“My favorite thing [about Color Guard] is that you don’t have to change who you are,” member Shay Rice said. “Everyone is accepted.”

Rice said that team bonding is a large part of why Color Guard is important to her.

“We all have become a big family,” Rice said.

Fellow team member Monica Payan agreed that bonding and the support of her teammates has had a large impact on her life.

“When my mom went to Afghanistan, Mrs. Jordan was here, and I was able to talk to her,” Payan said.

It has also helped with her schoolwork.

“I’ve had a reason to keep my grades up,” she said.

Jordan feels the same sense of community as the students she coaches, and she said she enjoys watching them develop as Color Guard members and students.

“I have fun seeing the girls grow,” she said.

Their growth comes from diligent practice and self-awareness, and presenting the colors requires grace and care.

“You have to know how many steps you have to take and the layout of where you’re going. All eyes are on you, so you have to get used to it,” Rice said.

Along with instilling self-esteem and respect, she said Color Guard simply acts as a place for people to come together and be taken as they are.

“I think that the most rewarding thing is having the feeling that you will be accepted and having a place somewhere.”

“Is there more money than if SB 175 hadn’t [passed]? Yeah, [but] is it enough?” asked Principal Dick Kloppel.

State laws require that 80 percent of school district funding comes from the state, and 20 percent comes from the community surrounding it. Some funds in the 20 percent come from past mill levies, but each year the cost of maintaining teachers and programs in the school system becomes increasingly expensive, forcing the school board and budget committee to cut courses and either lay off staff or fail to replace retired employees. This, in turn, creates significantly larger class sizes where students get less individual attention. Kloppel used the Industrial Technology program as an example.

“We used to have nine teachers [in the IT program]; now we have six. It’s not because the demand isn’t there. [It’s] because we don’t have funding to pay the teachers,” he said.

Budget cuts affect every department, not solely electives.

“Your English classes are big. Your history classes are big. Your science classes are big. We used to have a limit of 22 in biology; now our limit is 30,” he said.

The increase in class size greatly influences advanced placement and honors courses as well.

“AP classes are supposed to be about students discussing and talking. When you have 27 to 28 students in a class, the opportunity to talk is much less than with 18 students in a class. When a class is bigger, the opportunity for you to get individual attention and personalized learning goes away,” he said.

In addition to larger class sizes, some popular advanced classes have been cut altogether.

“We have requests for classes we can’t offer. This year we were not able to offer Analysis because we didn’t have enough math teachers to teach it,” he said.

Though there have been many classes cut, there could be more. The school has had to postpone building maintenance projects to maintain educational programs. Some parts of the facility that need to be replaced are the intercom system and the elevator, which are both original and their parts are no longer sold.

“I remember having to carry some of our students who are in wheelchairs; we had to carry them downstairs in their wheel chairs every day to get them out of here. The elevator was gone. This is a big deal,” Kloppel said.

The school also needs handicap bathrooms on the north end (where visitors come for sporting events) and some lockers are wearing out. There is a short in the fire alarm system (it doesn’t affect the alarms themselves, but causes some technical difficulties) and out of the three boilers the school has, only the two needed to run the school are up and running.

“We need to fix our buildings, and it’s starting to show,” he said.

To fix the elevator alone would cost upwards of $1million, and the funds simply aren’t available. One would think that maintaining the buildings students inhabit for at least seven hours a day would be the least that could be done. However, school administrators have had to postpone projects and live with inconveniences because they rightfully place a higher priority on providing what learning and educational opportunities they can.

On May 13, school board members unanimously voted to move forward with a mill levy that would raise $981,748 for the district. The levy would increase taxes by $12.11 on a home worth $100,000.

Twelve dollars and eleven cents is a small price to pay for what education will put back into the community.

“We are an investment. It’s going to make our community grow,” he said.

Often, when families are looking into moving to a new city, the first thing they look at is the school system. They want to know that their children will have many educational opportunities available to them.

“A strong school system is a sign of a healthy community,” Kloppel said.

We believe that education is the backbone of every community, and when people choose not to support it, the results, both direct and indirect, are evident. Droupout rates increase. The city’s economy suffers because new families choose not to relocate to it, and young people have fewer opportunities for economic advancement. The overall public morale suffers when citizens cannot take pride in their school system.

The solution to the problem at hand is not to shrink back in apathy and indifference but to take pride in our community’s schools and invest in our young people. The opportunities they receive will shape the future of Great Falls and the world.

Should you vote yes for the mill levy?

The answer to this question is simple. If you want you and your children to live in a community of thoughtful, intelligent, and successful citizens, vote yes. If you want to invest in the your community, vote yes. If you want to see change and improvement, vote yes.

The only wrong answer would be to not vote at all. Indifference and disinterest are incredibly destructive forces. Only when students and parents pour a fraction of the amount of interest that educators and administrators pour into the young people of the community will we begin to see progress and advancement occur.

When I got this idea last year to do the newspaper column, I was hoping to try to provide some insight into what I do on a day-to-day basis and some of the issues that I deal with.  I’ve also used this forum as an opportunity to educate you all on law issues.  I think it has been received pretty well, and I appreciate the positive compliments that have come from it.  To the journalism department, this has really opened my eyes to what deadlines mean, and I can tell you that I have a ton of respect for what you all do! 

This summer, I hope you all have plans to stay out of trouble.  It’s not certain what the police department will have me doing, but there is a chance that I will be back on patrol.  Please don’t make me have to deal with you in that capacity!  Use the summer to spend time with family and friends, travel and have a good time – but please be responsible, make good decisions and drive safely.  When next school year comes along, I expect to see everyone back here.  Have a great summer!

Even though this may turn out to be true later in life, while having to deal with a job or trying to receive a college education. Those two endeavors would have been my choice, and I would have willingly proceeded into the rules that accommodate them.

The point is this style of education wasn’t my choice. I started as a child and am now being told I have to finish to have a fulfilled life. Meaning I have to follow and behave inside the guidelines that have been drawn up– the ones I never got the chance to disagree with. The school system had me sign on the dotted line while I was still drinking out of a sippy cup.

My sophomore year is probably the hardest year I’ve had to push through. My second semester has been a compilation of about 36 missed days and endless conversations with teachers over said absences. It has made the end of this year a living hell, and almost impossible to enjoy.

One of the issues my teachers have is the fact that I’m passing and that I do not have to attend their classes to earn a decent grade.

Instead of teachers offering me positive reinforcement, making me want to come back to class, I’ve received mostly negative reinforcement.  This style of teaching may work with your dog, when teaching it not to pee on the carpet, but positive reinforcement tends to leave a long term effect on people.

Rebel. That’s the one word that comes to mind when thinking of breaking the social norm while still being able to function in that society. I can’t fix the fact that I’ve been sick and haven’t been able to attend school; I can hope to change the idea that one needs to attend to be successful.

You can imagine that in your head perfectly, right? Yeah, that’s what I love about books. I absolutely love watching movies, and to me books are just movies in words. There has always been something about books that gets me hooked right away.

For example, for my quarterly book reading for ORB, I started reading is Tracie Puckett’s Webster Grove series. The first book of the series is “New Girl.” After the first few chapters of this book I was instantly tuned in. The second is “Under the Mistletoe,” then comes “Secrets to Keep,” “Coming Out,” and “All Good Things.”

After the fifth book in the series was over, I had to rush and buy the next one as soon as I could. Eventually, all of them turned into that. As soon as I finished one, I just HAD to start the next. There was something about that series that makes me wanting more.

Much like my favorite kind of movies, I like books that have a mix of action, comedy, and romance. This series was perfect for that.

If I had to give this series a rating, it would by far be a five-star review. I recommend this series greatly.