Students Learning Through On-line Options

Some Wolf Point High School students are discovering that learning can consist of more than what’s inside the school building’s walls.

The Montana Digital Academy along with other on-line offerings allow students to expand their knowledge.

Wolf Point High School counselor Erin Loendorf explains that the Montana Digital Academy provides on-line instruction taught by Montana certified teachers throughout the state.

“They could have a teacher from Kalispell or anywhere,” Loendorf said.

Sophomores Kaleah Miller-Toves and Sierra Hamilton are each taking a photography for one period each day. Their instructor is Maggie Hunter of Powell County High School in Deer Lodge.

“I’ve just liked photography for a while and wanted to give it a try,” Miller-Toves said.

Loendorf explained the students needed to learn how to use cameras, upload programs and learn computer photo programs.

“The best part of it is they’ve learned to become independent learners,” Loendorf said.

Each week, the students must complete different assignments. One task was to take photos of Wolf Point from a tourist’s viewpoint.

Their photos included the welcome to Wolf Point sign and photos of the underpass. One of Hamilton’s favorite photos is a train car sprayed with decorative graffiti.

Another assignment involved black and white photography. “Mine were of Sierra,” Miller-Toves said.

Loendorf said the class will help fulfill fine arts’ graduation requirements for the students.

Hamilton and Miller-Toves agree that it’s a benefit to go through the class together.

Samantha Reed, a junior, is also using on-line instruction to improve her education. Reed is studying equine through the Nelson Academy of Agriculture Sciences.

“I know that it will help me with my future,” Reed said.

She wants to go into a horse-related profession for her career.

Her current class is the first part of a three-part course. She will take the other two in the spring semester and then next fall.

“For as long as I remember, I knew I wanted to do something animal related,” Reed said.

Reed, who earned the Miss Teen Rodeo title for the Wolf Point Wild Horse Stampede last summer, feels that horses are amazing animals.

“I love their mentality. They are so understanding,” Reed said. “You can make a mistake and they won’t hold it over your head.”

She is impressed by horse’s physical power and their ability to work with their riders. She also loves to share little known facts about horses with students including Miller- Toves and Hamilton.

“They usually just block me out though,” Reed laughed.