News
Bigfork High is academic champion
MATR Sponsor (view all)
Bigfork High School has been named the top academic school in Class A in Montana.
By Nancy Kimball
The Daily Inter Lake
The Montana High School Association picked Bigfork for one of its NorthWestern Energy Academic Excellence Awards.
The awards, presented since the 1988-89 school year, recognize the top Class AA, A, B and C schools based on grade-point averages and exceptional involvement in a long list of school activities
For the first time in the award’s history, Bigfork won the top rank among Class A schools.
"To us, it’s just like winning the state championship," Bigfork High Principal Thom Peck said.
The association averages the first- and second-semester grades of all varsity letter winners in athletics, superior-rating winners in district music festival, state speech and drama participants and varsity cheerleaders.
Out of Bigfork’s 391 high school students, the 137 qualifying students compiled a grade-point average of 3.393. Next best in Class A was Billings Central, where 209 qualifying students earned a 3.341 average.
Among Class AA schools, Flathead High School was the runner-up with a 3.311 GPA from its 374 qualifying students. The Class AA winner was Butte with a 3.346 GPA from 264 students.
Peck gave credit where it’s due.
"The kids — it’s totally about them. A lot of credit also has to be given to the coaches and teachers, too," he said. They are the ones who help students struggling with class work or becoming academically ineligible for activities.
"But we realize that if we can keep them in that activity," he said, "that’s only going to help their academic achievement."
Many Bigfork students, echoing the small-school ethic instilled in the years when the school was in Class B, are in two or three sports or in one or two sports plus music, Peck said. Many also are involved in prom and other committee work.
"Those are our leaders," he said.
"Sometimes I think kids, when they go to a small school, think ‘I’m not that good,’ or ‘I’ll never be that good.’ It’s not a matter of how big your school is, but how hard you want to work at it."
Those students help each other, he said, and that makes the difference.
"I heard one time … it’s not necessarily what you teach, it’s what you emphasize that hits home," he said. "We emphasize keeping their grades up and doing their best. Some of the best education comes on the activity bus when they’re doing their homework, helping each other while they’re waiting for the JV game to finish.
"Those kinds of things go a long way," he said. "It’s kids helping kids."
Peck said a high school association representative may present the Academic Excellence plaque to the student body during this fall’s homecoming assembly. He also is getting a banner made to hang alongside the school’s other state championship banners on the gym walls.
"I think it’s just something that everybody in the whole community, including parents, teachers, kids and everyone can be really proud of," Peck said. "To receive this award is what it’s all about. I’m really blessed to have these people to work with."
Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at [email protected]
MATR Supporters (view all)
Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.