Big Sky High School - Sunrise Yearbook (Missoula, MT)

Page 67 text:

ld,illStihg to Eew style of living is never easy. that was the case for six foreign idents who came to Missoula for a ar of study with Eagle students. They are: Esa Leppiniemi. Satu Lind- .ist and Kristiina Norkio from Finland. ailan Thorell from Sweden. Dirk leimann from West Gennany and Wi- Ja Jati Sudhaltha from Indonesia. They unanimously claimed they tnsferred to Missoula to leam more out the American way of lite and the iglish language. I was interested in other contries. pecially the USA. said Wieman j. Cultures and traditions differ. sadithe change students. Few were aware of e American celebration of Halloween d Thanksgiving - though most lebrate Christmas. Otherwise they adjusted well. But Sudhartha said he had to get us- to liberal Americans and their lack shyness. Our people are very polite d in my country we have a good use of mutual undersmndingf' Eut they all said they enjoyed mselves. It tAmericaJ is a big coun- ' and a lot different from Sweden. But ked Missoula. compared to Stockholm, cause it is small and you almost vays meet somebody you know. The students unanimously noted large uferences in schools. 'The teachers are very friendly here d the classes are shorter. In my school : must take I3 classes and we are on- able to choose four of them-. said imann. hey also noted that Big Sky has a big ection of after school activities. in- tding sports and dances. iowever. they had no trouble speak- 5 English, because they had all studied br several years. 'I didn't find it difficult at all. I adjusted your way of life. said Lindquist, who s in Helsinki. Finland. hey had many other rewarding ex- 'encesz Leppiniemi won't forget play- Q football. Thorell remembers his trips. rticularly the one to Glacier Park. :imann was interested Montana's nting season. which is rare in West rmany. Lindquist loved Montana's ountains. Norkio loved traveling to dill ent places in America and making w friends. Sudhartha was most af- lted by the snow and cold. hai will they do when they retum e? orkio responded that she'll tell her Ends. It is really true mat Americans i hamburgers and drink Coke - all 2 time! ,indquist said she will. Go to the ina. eat brown bread. write letters to J friends in the USA and go to ep. They all said they enjoyed their brief lr of a NIEW LIFESTYLE I OFSIQH S'CUClEI'1tS GIUOV IVIISSOUIE USA

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FOREIGN SNIILES - Exchange Students who have been welcomed here at Big Sky are from left to rightg Jati Sudartha, Knstiina Noikio, Staffan Thorell, Dirk Weimann, Esa Leppiniemi and Satu Lindquist. HAPPINESS - Jati Sudartha from indonesia smiles and listens to the student senate welcome him and his friends. COOKING TECHNIQUES - Finnish student Esa Leppiniemi watches as another BSH student shows him how to do an American dish. FUN TIMES - Finnishs' Satu Lindquist talks to West German student Dirk Weimann at a Girls Basketball Game. SPEEDY TYPER - Staffan Thorell from Sweden types a paper in typ- ing classs for a tinal grade. BEING WELCOMED - The foreign students get a greeting from Big Sky's Vice-President Steve Grover. MINGLING - Missoula citizen Harry Alsaker after a girls' basketball game. Foreign exchange student Dirk Weimann visits. with 62 -Exchange Students

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Making hard decisions about the student work- ings of Big Sky High School is me central concern of the Student Govemment. The 1984-85 govem- ment battled criticism from students as much as it did govemmental pro- blems. But the final ballot saw it rise above those problems to become an effective body. A day with Student govemment is not what most students thought it was. Every Tuesday. like clockwork, they met in room 31 to tackle the school issues while munching from sack lunches. Many arguments about what is right and wrong and what should be approved for students at Big Sky took place over those noon hours. They constantly faced the challenge of deciding whether their votes were responsible concerning funding, pep assemblies. and other everyday decisions that might affect the student body. LThey faced several letters of criticism written to the school newspaper. The Sun Journal. But President Keith Kaster and Vice-President Steve Grover said they tried most to maintain school spirit during pep assemblies. They also both confessed to frustrations in not getting senate support for their goals. The major test was won. The group emerged from the year unified, with several accomplishments to their credit. The most notable was the pur- chase of a sound system. which was used at school dances. Senate members say that single act helped make the year better. I gained a lot out of being in stu- dent govemmentfsaid senior senator Patti Price. I joined student government because I thought that they needed a lot of help with the Prom and I was willing to help. We get more say in what the administration does than if we were not in student govern- mentfsaid Stacy Lewis. Student Government gets you tn- volved in more activities. Some former represenatives told me about it so I tried out and I like it. said sophomore Vince Roberts. The hopes of student government raise spirit and school pride by pro- moting involvement may be looked down upon by some. but the members of the school's student politicians insisted they were suc- cessful in their task of making hard D-E-C-I-S-I-0 N S TZCKHHQ tOUQh QOVeI'I'lI'Tlel'lt ISSUES 64 - Student Government