by John Dowd
On Friday, February 13, representatives from Bitterroot Health, Stevensville School District, the University of Montana-Bitterroot College and Montana Digital Academy, as well as some students that will be in the new Stevensville charter school program, gathered outside the school for a ribbon cutting and logo reveal ceremony.
Stevensville Superintendent Jon Konen spoke about the future of the new Stevensville Health and Science Academy, saying with pride, “We have a brand new high school that’s going to go right alongside our regular high school.”
According to Konen, high school counselors Katy Cardoza and Rob Ryan brought the idea forward and they worked for months to put together an application he described as “exceptional.” They wanted to find something that would uniquely help students in their district. Konen added that the idea was approved unanimously by the Stevensville School Board.
The logo designed by Siann Nelson for the new Stevensville Health Sciences Academy charter school was unveiled at a ribbon cutting last Friday. Photo by John Dowd.
Montana has 27 charter programs across the state, but Konen said this will be the only one of its kind to partner with another business. In this case, they are working with Bitterroot Health to provide internships and hands-on learning for Stevensville students interested in pursuing a career in health care fields.
Stevensville also plans to hire another full-time science teacher to help offer a lot of the courses they will need to achieve their goals. Their mission is to offer charter school program students duel credit options, with the ultimate goal of getting these students up to as much as an associates degree by the time they graduate high school. To make that happen, they have also teamed up with the UM-Bitterroot College and Montana Digital Academy.
Bitterroot Health CEO John Bishop said, “I want to thank you for choosing Bitterroot Health to partner with… It’s a career that provides a lot of fulfillment, and is something very important to everyone in the valley because these will be the people that will take care of all of us, one day.”
Another to speak was Stevensville High School Principal Zeke Kaney. Kaney described the new charter school as “community driven education.”
“This is definitely a need in this valley,” said Kaney, referring to the students that will become health care professionals. He also spoke about the pathways they will offer to get students there.
They will work to meet all varieties of students, in three main groups. The first group would be those looking for a job straight out of high school, giving them options and foundations to become a medical assistant, phlebotomist and more.
Group two would be those looking to get college level credits by the time they graduate high school, to streamline their process into a degree.
Group three would be the most ambitious, with high level AP courses and extra college credits for those students looking to one day get their own doctorate.
Konen said they want to combine all these pathways with a standard high school experience. He said they will also allow these students the ability to participate in regular high school, with clubs and activities like band and sports.
Siann Nelson, designer of the logo, cuts the ribbon for the new
charter school at Stevensville. Photo by John Dowd.
They will also be able to offer active internships for higher grades, like juniors and seniors, at Bitterroot Health. That would see these students potentially “working right along side those that are working in the fields they want to be in.”
Konen then spoke on the new logo for the high school charter program. He said he designed the first logo using ChatGPT and it did not go over as well as the seven others designed by those in the school. Those logos were put to a vote by the whole school and staff. The winnin selection was by Siann Nelson, a Stevensville High School junior.
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