City Club Missoula – December Forum Wrapup (You missed the really great presentations) – Our Youth Are Civically Engaged And Making A Difference – And Some Of Them Love To Sing –

“Are you embarrassed when you hear “cap and trade” come up in
conversation?” “Do you always feel left out when conversations turn to
the subject of cap and trade?” “Do your eyes gloss over whenever a news
program mentions “cap and trade?” “Can you name the three things
everyone should know about cap and trade?”

If so, attend the January City Club Missoula forum and hear from local
experts on what cap and trade means to Missoula and the world. GO TO OUR
WEBSITE AND MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS NOW FOR THIS TIMELY FORUM.
http://www.cityclubmissoula.org/

And, while on the web-site, check out the information about our 2010
On-Line Photo contest! Starts Jan 1st runs through the 25th check out the
FB site http://www.cityclubmissoula.org/

And one more thing…..if you missed the December Forum, it was one of the
best. We are thinking of making it an annual event! Here are some notes
from the December forum:

December’s City Club Missoula was refreshing, informative and festive.
Forum registration and lunch began with the voices of the Sentinel High
School Spartanaires – a 23-member choir. Their first set included a funny
"12-Days of Christmas" and finished with "Sing We All Noel." The choir is
directed by Teacher Jessica Tidwell.

This months forum was a bit different. Instead of a single speaker or a
panel at the front of the room, the four groups of students speakers were
seated at different tables throughout the room, and simply rose from their
tables and spoke into mics from there. This was a refreshing departure
from the norm.

Mitch Colyer (a senior) from Big Sky High School led the first
presentation. Along with Chelsea Luke and Emily Dean (both seniors) they
spoke about past violence and bullying at BSHS and the introduction of
NCBI (National Coalition Building Institute) to their school as a means to
prevent violence. Their club introduced a program to all Freshman at BSHS
on "how to combat violence." This includes physical, verbal, emotional and
cyber (think email, texting). Since many of the middle schools have a
"Respect Club" through the Flagship Program, this is hoped to be an
enhancement of initial skills learned there.

Emily Dean explained that the "State of Big Sky HS pre- NCBI" was becoming
dire: over 40 fights, videos of some fights going out on the internet and
a bad reputation mounting. The NCBI initiative began in 2007. That
summer 30-kids attended a "Train the Trainers" workshop for 3-days at Camp
Paxson on Seeley Lake. Chelsea Luke went on to detail how the newly
trained teens came back to school armed with skills to work with incoming
Freshman and trained faculty advisors on two day-long seminars (Fall and
Spring). Through sessions on "personal pride," "stand-ups" addressing
gender, race, religion and beliefs, and learning about "the cycle of
violence", Freshman became aware of their own patterns with dealing with
anger and the different forms of intimidation (physical, emotional, verbal
and cyber).

All three were eager to report that many underclassmen are eager to get
involved in keeping the efforts going after they graduate. After next
year’s incoming Freshman are trained, they will be the class that makes
all students at BSHS, NCBI trained. Since implementation two-years ago,
violence is down, new role-models are evolving and Big Sky HS has a new
"image" in town and in the state – "we are now the shining stars."

The next group was from Hellgate HS’s Students Against World Malnutrition
(SAM). Seniors Jenna Allen, Andy Vale and Isabel Huff spoke about their
club which is working to increase awareness of world malnutrition, raise
funds and motivate people to take action. As sophomores they learned about
World hunger issues and were motivated to do more. After putting together
a quick "Cultural Dinner" fundraiser and raising over $1000, they were
fired up to keep going. By the second year, as Juniors, their club had
increased in numbers to 40-students, and they switched their focus to
Burma. They also switched from "feeding the hungry" to looking at "causes
of world hunger and leading NGO (Non-Governmental Organizations)research."
By teaming with a local NGO, Missoula Medical Aide, they hosted a second
annual cultural dinner. This year, as Seniors, they are still focused on
the causes of world hunger and on making sure their club will go on after
they graduate. They are looking to raise $20,000 for an NGO in Burma
called "Steer your Trust" which is building a school. Partnering with
youth and promoting early education has proved to be a leading remedy in
the fight against hunger.

Other annual events, like the holiday bake sale and an in-school fast to
raise money have afforded them the funds to donate to Heifer International
(they’ve purchased a water buffalo, llamas and chickens) and Oxfam
International. Andy Vale closed by saying "SAM ignites a passion in me
that carries over to the other parts of my life."

A logical follow up to the SAM club is the Willard Alternative High School
Garden Project. In a partnership with Garden City Harvest for a school
garden, students Amanda Satterlee, Kenya Rees and Amber Zavala will spoke
on collaborative efforts between Willard students, Garden City Harvest
(GCH) and other organizations to develop a sustainable garden at Willard
School. They began in January 2009 with Flagship and GCH, students and
faculty to get the project going. It has been an organic effort, truly
from the ground up (pun intended). First they built beds, frames and
fences that were filled with soil and seeded. Twenty veggie crops and 15
fruit trees were planted in this initial garden. Food went to the
Missoula Food Bank, student families and neighbors of the school as a part
of their "Volunteer for Veggies" program.

The garden has been related to more than just their efforts as a club.
Back at school it is now an outdoor classroom for scientific observation,
their "classroom without walls." Each fall has brought a "Garden Harvest
Party" with dishes made from the garden and more crops to share.

In Spring ’09 they began composting, planting seedlings and weeding! By
staggering crops they were able to get two yields from the same beds and
increase their production. The 2009 Fall Harvest was bigger than the
first year. Highlights included shared crops, making salsa from the
garden, and dried herbs to use in their "Native Eats" class. Another
highlight is their new green house wish they got through writing a grant.
They look forward to the expansion the green house will afford, like
further composting, worm beds, native plants, annual assistance through
compost and seedlings, and continuing to share crops with the school,
Flagship, GCH and the Foodbank.

While their program and understanding of where their food comes from is
growing, so are their needs. They have succeeded in getting the school
system to stop spraying their school field so their crops can achieve
"organic" status. To take it further, a tool shed, water system in the
green house and a seed bank are top on the list of priorities for 2010.
The students stressed their enjoyment in the garden, the great taste of
the local organic food and the price – "it’s really inexpensive to grow
your own food!"

The final group was Sentinel High School’s DECA club. Members Josh
Hamilton, Josh Reed and CJ Wulf spoke about fundraising for a new sign at
Sentinel, store management and conferences/competitions for students. The
Sentinel HS DECA club is really on fire. As an association of marketing,
business and entrepreneurial students, they are making money and truly
learning about local government and the professional process of getting
things done in Missoula (i.e. red tape). In addition to regular community
service, these students are taking their business plans to state and
national competitions, running the school store and giving back to their
school, in the process.

The Sentinel DECA club consists of 102 students, 100 of which will attend
the state-DECA event with their business projects this year and another 50
will go to the national event. How are they going to get 50-students
there with faculty and family members? They’ll likely hire a private jet
to do so. It’s probably cheaper than all those plane tickets out of
Missoula, and when you hear how well they are running the two stores at
their school, you’ll see where the funds will come from, too.

Of the 100 DECA members, they have 9 managers and 14 supervisors that run
the school’s two stores. They are open from 7:30am to 3:30 pm every
school day. The school’s stores gross $100,000 and they hope to net
nearly $48,000 this year, alone! One student astutely pointed out –
"unlike some clubs who have a couple fundraisers ever year, we are
fundraising 8 hours/day, every day." As a result of these efforts, the
Sentinel Stores gross more than any other school in the Northwest. They
even removed soda from the school, and this has not dampened their
$550/day gross.

What will they do with all that money? First off, send 100 members to
state and 50 club members to the national event. Second, give money to
other DECA clubs in the state. Third, a major school project each year.
In 2008 they had ATMs installed in school as part of a "learning how to
use money" initiative. This Fall they installed a school sign on South
Avenue. Sentinel was one of the only schools in the state without an
informational sign. The school had some money put aside, DECA had money
and they found corporate sponsors. After collaboration with city council,
neighborhood meetings, the school, Missoula’s Office of Planning and
Grants (OPG) and the Missoula School Board, the 14-month process finally
finished with a new sign on South Ave. The seven-committee chairs went to
10 different meetings to get approval and feel strongly that the sign they
have installed today is much better than the original plan. While it was
a lengthy process to go through, the end result has been more than worth
it. They have most recently finished a large PR campaign announcing the
sign and have sold all but one corporate advertising spot available, for
now.

In regular City Club fashion, the tables discussed the presentations for
about 10-minutes and then there was time for a few questions. Rene
Hofeldt of First Security Bank asked "Have the causes/clubs ever worked
together within the school or across school lines for mutual benefit?"
The students seemed to agree that while they have tried it with limited
success within their schools, they have not goneinter-scholastically, and
it is a good idea.

"How much reaching out into the community for knowledge and support goes
on?" was asked by Cooper Burchenal of Salt Studio. Not Enough… was the
resounding response.

After joking that she’d like to begin a "Working-Moms’ DECA club" and
would any of the students act as advisors, Molly Bradford of Vanns.com
asked "What was the catalyst for shifting focus from ‘feeding people’ to
understanding the root causes of hunger?" Jenna Allen said that Michal
Marrin’s book "The Road to Hell" was her inspiration. It point to flaws
in the current Aid System that we know today. A huge fundamental shift
needs to happen from passing out food to attacking larger issues like
drought, education and sanitation. She said, "We need to focus less on
feeding the hungry and more on preventing them from ever being hungry."

CCM Vista Volunteer Sue Orr asked if "BSHS & NCBI were working with
Hellgate Middle School on their recent bullying issues." They students
from that club said "Yes." They are bringing in student trainers to
Hellgate MS and will be working with the student body there.

The final question came from Dean McGovern of the MT Campus Compact. He
asked the students at Willard to "talk about the unintended civic
engagement components" of their garden project. The students explained
that kids started gardens of their own at home; they were learning that
this food is cheaper, healthier and organic; the school district is not
spraying their field with pesticides; and that you can be sustainable and
healthy.

This uplifting hour was appropriately closed with a few final tunes by the
Spartanairres. They sang a Hebrew song that was described as "a feeling
of love that can come over the desert, especially at night time, and make
the flowers bloom, especially roses." And, of course, a rowdy version of
"Deck the Halls."

Hope you enjoyed the synopsis of the forum, it was truly wonderful.
Please do make your reservation for the January 11th forum by January 8th.
— Thank you so much for your reservation! We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming forum! Susie Orr AMERICORPS/VISTA Coordinator for CityClub 406-243-7720 – Did you know you can now make reservations for City Club Missoula forums online? You may, but are not required to, pay with a credit card as well. http://www.cityclubmissoula.org