Panther senior projects leave lasting mark

A week prior to graduation, the senior class of Alberton High School had the opportunity to showcase their senior projects to members of the community.

The projects, which ranged from the organization and successful running of a 5K Run/Walk to raise funds for breast cancer to restoring a classic Ford truck, all were demonstrations of the variety of talents in the class as well as the senior’s commitment to their community.

“They are an exceptional bunch,” Business teacher and senior advisor Kent Hbaab said. “I know they are looking forward to the next adventure but this will always be their home.”

Natasha Ball was the first senior to present her project, organizing and putting on a 5K Run/Walk to support the fight against breast cancer.

“My project got started with me brainstorming things I care about and things I like to do,” Ball said. “I love to run and my friends gave me ideas about raising money for breast cancer. I then thought about my grandma, who fought breast cancer, and it led me to the idea of creating the run to raise money.”

The idea led Ball to do research on how to set up a benefit run, which led to her contacting and working with various individuals both in the community and outside of it in order to create the event. Ball received many donations and a great deal of support in the days leading up to the event.

Nineteen runners showed up to participate in the 3.1 mile run, which raised a total of $420 for the Susan Koeman foundation.

“I’m hoping this starts a tradition in Alberton of doing a 5K,” Ball said.

The next senior up was Shwandra Rohrbach, who set up a recycling bin in Alberton located next to the feed store.

Rohrbach said the announcement that they were doing a senior project was “a surprise to all of us” and when it was suggested that a recycling project would be beneficial to the community she jumped on it since she had never recycled before.

The result, after “a lot of calling and emailing,” was the implementation of a recycling bin in Alberton.

Senior Josh Webb chose to renovate the baseball field at Alberton for baseball season. Webb organized a cleanup day, which was attended by kindergarten and first grade students and their families.

With the cleanup day completed the final touches were put on the field and Webb was proud to announce that “Alberton baseball is back.”

Todd Mrystol undertook the huge task of completely restoring a 1959 Ford F-100. Throughout the process he utilized a mentor in Missoula to help him and after a great deal of work and effort, the truck was proudly on display in front of the school during the projects.

“It was a pretty massive undertaking,” Hbaab said.

Class Valedictorian Emma Wooldridge decided she would learn how to make a quilt, which she said required a lot of patience, planning and organization.

The finished six and a half by four and a half foot quilt was on display during the presentation and Wooldridge thanked her many mentors who helped her reach her goal.

Last but not least was Megan Drury, who was inspired by an art class project to create an Alberton Panther mural.

The finished Panther paw utilized repeated lines to create patterns and over 150 hours went into the creation of the eight by eight foot mural.