Blog

Onward and upward for senior lady falcons

by ayda tondre

published may 16th 2023

I had the privilege to interview some of our Heritage Christian Senior girls. Ashlyn Graham is going to attend Corban University in Oregon for track and kinesiology. She is looking forward to finding a community in Oregon and finding new friends. Her advice to high schoolers is to have friends outside of the school. Hayley Sayre is going to MSU for nursing but she is not sure what type of nursing yet. Her piece of advice to Falcon students is “Procrastination is the key to success” and “get involved”. She is looking forward to studying abroad in Europe, Central Asia or somewhere tropical. Launna Giovannini is going to study law at MSU. She is looking forward to a change in scenery. Her advice is to “Walk with purpose”. And last but not least is Madsion Roberts who is going to GCU, in Phoenix, Arizona, to study accounting. She is hoping to someday work to help stop human trafficking. She is looking forward to making new friends and rooming with her friend Mackenzie Galyen who is also another Heritage Falcon Senior. I am very blessed by all the senior girls and I will be sad to see them go this year, but I am so glad they are getting the chance to spread their wings and see where life takes them. I wish them all the best luck! 
 

Beyond being a falcon with the senior guys

by ryan galyen

published may 18th 2023

Christian Fagan
Christian played 4 years of soccer for the falcons and did lots of skiing over the winter. He went on to also do Basketball and Golf in his senior year. He plans to attend Gallatin College and get his associates in aviation to become a commercial pilot. 
 

Eric Gillis
Eric played 4 years of both Varsity Basketball and Soccer, skiing during the winters, and golf for his senior year. He plans to attend MSU to get a degree in mechanical engineering technology. 
 

Zechariah Nelson
Zech did 3 years of Robotics as well as helping with the tech team for chapel and other events. He plans to also attend MSU for a degree in law.
 

Zebediah Nelson
Zeb did Robotics and tech team and basketball his senior year. He plans to attend MSU  
 

Timothy Martin 
Timothy played varsity soccer as well as basketball his senior year and plans to pursue a career in construction.
 

Bridger Heys 
Bridger was a big part of the Robotics and tech team during his time at Heritage and played some soccer. He plans to attend the University of Arizona to study astronomy and physics.
 

Gunnar Olson 
Gunner played 4 years of Varsity Basketball as well as Golf and Soccer his senior year. He plans to attend Virginia Tech on an Army ROTC scholarship and get a degree in History.

Stillwater music festival

by ava cummins

published may 16th 2023

Our band and choir had the opportunity to go to the Stillwater Music Festival in Kalispell, Montana on April 14th and 15th. On the six hour bus ride, the students talked, slept, did homework, and played games with each other. They also stopped at the mission church in Saint Ignatius to sing some songs in the beautiful church. Once to Kalispell, the choir performed their two songs- “Lux in Tenebris” and “I Can See the River Jordan”. The band and chamber singers also performed that night. Each performance showed the hard work that was put into learning and perfecting the songs. After the performances were finished for the night, our students enjoyed pizza, a movie, and playing games in the gym or outside. It was a great time to strengthen friendships with one another and interact with the other schools that attended the festival. They got a restful night of sleep at the hotel, knowing that the next day would be very long. The next day was dedicated to solos, duets, or small group performances. The students enjoyed supporting our own performers and listening to wonderful performances from the talented musicians from the other schools. Although the afternoon was long due to longer gaps between performances, the students filled the time well by playing games outside, resting in our designated room, or doing slightly questionable activities like wrestling on the hill (we’re thankful no one got majorly hurt doing that). After all performances finished for the day, the music festival was wrapped up by an awards ceremony. Our choir and chamber singers received superior ratings. Some of our extra performances received special rewards- Aiden Lee for his clarinet solo, Michael Kneeland for his clarinet solo, and Parker Dixon and Isaac Ethridge for their vocal duet. Once eating their Chick-fil-a dinner, the students loaded back up on the bus for the six hour bus ride back to Bozeman. They were less energetic on the ride back. Although people socialized for the first few hours, the bus was unusually quiet by the end, since many students fell asleep or were on the verge of sleep. Everyone had a valid reason to be- being up for almost 18 hours each day really drains your energy.  It was still a very entertaining few hours. . . some people can make even a long bus ride fun when they start getting tired. We are thankful for our bus driver, our adjudicators, and our chaperones for helping make this trip possible, but we are especially thankful for Mrs. Wielenga. She put in countless hours of work to make this trip possible, between planning, teaching, conducting, and watching over a ton of students during the trip. If it weren’t for her, there is no way these students would have been able to enjoy this trip as much as they did, so thank you, Mrs. Wielenga, for all you did to make this possible. Above all, we are thankful to God that He gave us safety traveling there and back, keeping us safe throughout the two days in Kalispell, and giving each student the amazing talents and abilities He has given them. This trip is one that every student will remember, because we made a lot of unforgettable memories. We can’t wait for the music festival next year!

New Changes at Hcs

By Jack Cummins

Published November 15th 2022

The school underwent some pleasant changes over the summer. Construction of new playground equipment began in August; many volunteers pulled together and completed building all but the climbing net before the start of the new school year.

The school track is also new this year. The goal of completing it before the state tournament was reached, and many people were able to see this great new addition to HCS. Located around the soccer field, it will be ready to use for this year's track season.

The final large, new addition this year, that might not be as well known, is the new heating system that was installed over the summer. Even though this might not be known by all, we will all appreciate this new feature throughout the winter season.

Thank you, on behalf of the HCS family, to all the volunteers who helped with constructing all of these great additions!
 

That's a wrap

by Jack Cummins

published may 16th 2023

The 2022-2023 Heritage Christian school year was packed full of events and memories. The year kicked off with a high school trip to the bowling alley on the first week of school. Soon after, Heritage had the opportunity to host the MCAA Soccer/Volleyball tournament, which included volleyball making its first state tournament appearance in 7 years, as well as the soccer team winning 3rd place. Variety night and the Christmas concert followed soon after, and they were full of wonderful performances and great memories. Spirit week took place in early February, and the school got a little bit of everything during this event, from inflatable dinosaur costumes, to identical outfits. The high school basketball teams participated in the MCAA basketball tournament in Great Falls in February; both teams played great, and the varsity boys tied their highest placement in school history with a 3rd place finish! Closing out the year was dominated by music and fall sports. The music festival in Kalispell was a huge success, with the choir winning a superior rating. The music program also just had their final performance of the year, the spring concert, which was a great way to end a successful music campaign this year. Golf and track are also finishing up now, both of which have had great seasons! The 2022-2023 school year offered many exciting events that students and staff and parents alike all seemed to enjoy. Next school year should be full of many great events as well!

The christmas bazaar

by sonja johnson

published november 29th, 2022

The Christmas Bazaar is a fun event hosted by our school to fundraise for us and the booster club. Our school rents out spots where people all over the area can come and sell homemade goods and crafts. There were some ambrosial delicacies such as donuts, coffee, and more. The Christmas Bazaar also included homemade jewelry, quaint little wood carvings, and even heatable stuffed animals. We are very thankful for the Christmas Bazaar this year and everyone who participated!

Variety Night 

by layla hartley and Kira Renne

published december 1st 2022

What a success the Variety Night was, a whopping $12,000 was made from the auction, way to GO FALCONS!!!! The night was filled with wonderful performances from students, the choir and band. The gym was packed with families and friends enjoying the lovely night!! All of the performances were Amazing! 

There were performances from the choir, band, chamber singers, and various students. Some of the special acts included, a barber shop quartet called the “LED'S” starring, Aiden Lee, Isaac Ethridge, Parker Dixon, and Jackson Sayre. Kennedy Gamillo performed a gorgeous dance to “Still Rolling Stones” by Lauren Daigle. Isaac Ethridge performed a dance from “Napoleon Dynamite” , it was definitely a hit! All the performances were wonderful and all of the performers did fabulous! 
 

Last Day before christmas break

by ayda tondre

published january 5th 2023

Teachers and students were all looking forward to a long, well deserved break. But not before we decked the halls! Students dressed in their favorite Christmas pjs and ugly sweaters. The school had four alumni who came and shared some wonderful advice for the students. Then, the individual classes went and had a party! There were gift exchanges, amazing food and the best Christmas movies! Then students left at 12 for an awesome break!

by caleb crum 

published december 15th, 2022

Is water wet?

No water itself is not wet.

What came first the orange or the color

No because then the fruit was named after the color.

Are onion rings vegetable donuts?

Facts.

How do I do the kawahi laugh?

Find me and I will show you. 

 

The Pep Rally

By Kira Renne

Published november 8th 2022

The first pep rally of the 2022-23 school year was a big success. The two teams, high school soccer and volleyball, competed against one another in multiple fun activities to get the crowd excited for the upcoming MCAA tournament. The first game was a ‘pass the mint’ challenge. Each member of the teams were given skewer sticks and were challenged to pass the mint down the line with the skewer in their mouths. The volleyball girls won the first challenge. The second challenge was the classic ‘oreo on your face’ challenge. Each team member had to start with an oreo on their forehead, and had to get it into their mouth without using their hands. The boys won this challenge. The final challenge was the popular crowd surfing on a table challenge. Each team picked one member to stand on a table and would ‘surf’ on their team members. The goal was to move forward the fastest. This was done by each member rolling on the floor. You really had to be there! Awards were then handed out for spirit week! Isaac Ethridge won the character day award. Makaila Crum won the country day award for the western category, Audrey Wielenga won the country day award for the international category, and Camryn Miller won the country day award for the country club category. Ayda Tondre won the falcon spirit day award. The crowd was excited for the tournament, and the teams were hyped up and ready to play!
 

The shoot off

by aaden rietveld

published november 8th 2022

The tension had never been so high, already the Heritage team successfully made it through the first two halves of the game. The first half was a struggle for the Heritage team, they did not score at all, while Billings scored two goals. But after half-time the game turned around for Heritage, Christian Fagan dribbled through the Billings defense scoring Heritage's first goal. Then before the game ended Parker Dixon dribbled through the Billings defense as well, scoring Heritage's second goal. But we can’t forget Heritage's defense, they did not let Billings score at all during the second half. Since the score was two against two the game went into double overtime. Each overtime lasted ten minutes each but there was no scoring at all during the overtimes. So now the game went into a shoot off, five players were chosen from each team to shoot. Micah Roberts, Christian Fagan, Eric Gillis, Parker Dixon, and Geno Graf were all chosen to be the shooters for Heritage Christian. Micah Roberts stepped up first, he struck the ball but Billings goalie blocked the ball. Billings' first shooter went up to shoot but he missed the goal. Next up was Christian Fagan, he stuck the ball, and the goalie blocked it, but he got a second chance, the goalie stepped out of the box! Christian grasped this second chance and scored! The second Billings shooter went up and scored. Next up for Heritage was Eric Gills, Eric attempted to go through the legs of the ginormous goalie but the goalie deflected the ball. The Third shooter for Billings scored as well. Next up Parker Dixon better known as STRIKER PARKER! Parker easily slides the ball into the goal. The fourth shooter for Billings scored as well. Finally Geno stepped up to take the Penalty Kick, Geno made contact with the ball, and the goalie deflected the ball ending the season for Heritage.
 

Interview With Mrs. AlberdA

By Sonja Johnson

Published November 15th 2022

We have been blessed this year with Mrs. Alberda this year, we decided to interview her to get to know her more:

 
Q: Did you have a former job in teaching before this, if so what was it and for how long and what did you teach?
A:  I taught at a public middle school in Vernal, Utah for eight years. I taught eighth grade English. 

Q: What made you want to teach? 

A:  I’ve always wanted to be a teacher ever since I was a little girl. I used to make my friends play school with me.
 

Q:What did you get your degree in?
A: My degree is in English education. I also have a certificate in gifted and talented learning.

Q: What drove you to come to a private christian school?
A: I got married and moved to Bozeman and heard about an opening and applied.
 

Q: What do you teach?
A: I teach two classes of English, geography, a study skills class, theater, and a yearbook and journalism class. 
 

Q: What has your experience at Heritage been like?
A:  It’s been great. I taught public school in Utah before this. I am happy to be able to share my faith outwardly. 
 

Q: What has been your favorite part of the year so far?
A: I think chapel has been my favorite part. I did not experience school chapels at my old school and it is such a blessing.
 

Q: What have you learned so far this year?
A: I have learned that students at Heritage are some of the best and I am very glad I’m working here. 
 

We are immensely excited for future years with Mrs. Alberda and can’t wait to get to know her better throughout this year.