Alberton Student Spotlight: Jordan Taapken

Name: Jordan Taapken

Graduation: May 2020

Plans following graduation: I plan on attending MSU and majoring in paleontology, which is the study of life up to the Holocene, which is a time period in Earth’s history.

What’s the one thing adults don’t get about teenagers? One thing I feel that parents don’t get about teenagers is that they think that the same issues they had growing up are the same ones we have now. That’s not true at all. The world that we live in now is not the same world at the beginning of the decade, let alone the same world when they were kids. My generation is growing up in a world where technology is different every single year and our normal is and was not their normal in their times. Sometimes I feel like parents think that if it happened then, it can’t change in any way whatsoever.

What are some “adulting” skills you have learned, or are learning? Time management is one skill that I’ve been learning for over the past few years and think that I’ve figured it out.

What is your favorite TV show? Why? Live P.D. I’ve been watching the show for a few years and I never get bored of it. There is always something different going on in each episode from a robbery to first response. The show is never boring and never has a dull beat. Also there is a crew that now films in Missoula, which is super nice because whenever the show is in Missoula, I try to see if I can figure where they are in Missoula. So far, I’m not very good.

Is there anything that you would like to learn how to do? How to cook, really the only thing I know how to cook without giving someone food poisoning or burning down our house is Ramen and leftovers.

What’s been your most embarrassing moment at school? This event happened at the beginning of basketball season two years ago. I’m pretty sure that we were playing Noxon. I had forgotten to charge the camera’s battery the previous night.

I was doing film then because I couldn’t play sports due to me having rhabdomyolysis. In the process of plugging in the battery I managed to shut off the power strip without realizing it. The game went on for a little bit when a referee noticed that the scoreboard was turned off. So basically, I single handedly managed to stop a whole basketball game while being the only person to know whose fault it was. I felt so bad after that I never really told anyone about it until now.

What U.S. president have you admired the most and why? Franklin D. Roosevelt. I just like him for how he fixed America’s economy during the great depression and kept it afloat during World War II.

Do you follow any professional sports teams? I have to say that I like the New England Patriots because of a Super Bowl bet I lost. The only sports I’m huge into is The Overwatch League or OWL for short. It’s basically for people who are really good at video games, and play it at a professional level. There are about 20 teams in OWL with my favorite team being the London Spitfire.

What’s on your Christmas list this year? What I want most for Christmas, its going to sound weird but….

1. A garbage can

2. A candle

3. Anything for hiking.