Sunset School beams with another year of student success

GREENOUGH - Sunset School highlighted another year full of growth, adventure and kindness at its end-of-the-year celebration on Tuesday, May 28.

This year, students at Sunset School participated in a number of hands-on field trip experiences such as touring the spectrUM Discovery Area, attending the International Wildlife Film Festival, and learning about forest fire ecology.

According to supervising teacher Toni Hatten, enrollment at Sunset School regularly fluctuates throughout the school year, but this year it experienced a "sudden boom." Six out-of-district families made the choice to enroll their children at Sunset School. This brought attendance to 13 students, without these out-of-district families there would only be three students at Sunset School.

"They didn't have to come here, they decided that despite the financial and logistical hardship ... it was worth the benefit for their child or children," said Hatten citing the benefits of personal instruction and one-on-one time students experience at the school.

Teacher Hali Richmond acknowledged the three kindergarten graduates at Sunset School this year. According to Richmond, there wasn't a class of graduating kindergartners at the school last year.

Following the graduation, the winners of the class nominated awards were presented. Students nominated their peers for a variety of categories such as "most likely to be President," "most likely to paint a masterpiece," and others. Similarly to a Hollywood awards show, students took turns presenting the categories and unveiled the winners by reading the contents of an envelope. Hatten and Richmond presented personally curated academic awards recognizing the specific students' excellence in certain subjects.

Guest speaker Missoula County Sheriff's Office Deputy Heath Hanson spoke about what it means to be a good American. Hanson regularly works with Sunset School to provide educational opportunities for the students. This year he helped create an evacuation plan for the school.

In his speech, Hanson told students that there are no rules or laws that outline what it means to be a good American. Instead, he told them to be respectful, he stressed the importance of learning something new every day and encouraged them to share their knowledge with others.

"All of us have individual thoughts but we've all got to work together to make things happen," said Hanson. "We all come together to stand up for what's right, to be proud of ourselves."