Scholarship Program Butte High Tops in State

By Nick Gevock, The Montana Standard, Butte

May 13–Butte High School seniors earned more scholarships from a prestigious state program for Montana universities than any other school in the state.

Thirteen Butte seniors were awarded the state’s University System Honor scholarship, which pays for four years of a student’s tuition at any state university or college. The award is given to 260 high school seniors throughout the state.

“It’s about the best scholarship you can get,” said John Metz, Butte High principal. “We were the top school in the state, so we were really proud of that.” In the past, the scholarship was allocated to guarantee that each accredited high school in the state had at least one winner. Larger schools received more based on enrollment.

But the system was changed this year to make it more competitive, with students from all schools statewide competing with each other, said Janice Kirkpatrick, scholarship coordinator for the Montana University System. The awards are given based on a formula that considers a student’s grade point average and ACT or SAT college entrance test score.

Kirkpatrick said the change was made to reward the best students throughout Montana.

“It became a statewide competition,” she said.

Metz pointed out that Butte High seniors won more of the scholarships than the three Billings public high schools See BUTTE HIGH, Page A7 combined, the three Missoula public high schools combined, as well as both Great Falls public high schools. He said the class has excelled.

“This senior class is very good — we had a ton of kids score over 30 on the ACT,” Metz said. “It’s really a feather in the cap for our teachers too.” Keeley Floreen, a Butte High senior who won the award, said she put in for plenty of scholarships before learning she had won. Learning about the scholarship was a stress relief, she said.

“I was pretty excited,” she said. “I’m basically covered for college, which is nice.” She plans to attend Montana Tech this fall and major in general engineering.

The other Butte seniors who earned the awards were: Andrea Tonc, Abbie Nordhagen, Maria Ralph, Justin Palagi, Kallen Konen, Brianna DeWitt, Ethan Keeler, Sarah Hamblock, Skye Miner, Tawni Harper, Shawna Jo Powers and Kyler Kingston.

Not all students accept the award because they may be attending a college out of state, Kirkpatrick said.

In addition, Floreen and Butte High senior Renee Griffith won the statewide Robert C. Byrd Honors scholarship. They took two of 21 scholarships awarded through the competitive program.

Scholarship recipients receive $1,500 to help pay for their college education.

Reporter Nick Gevock may be reached at nick.gevock@mtstandard.com.

Area students earn state’s honor scholarship Other area students who won a Montana University System Honor scholarship included Spencer Johnson, Anaconda High School; Benjamin Raffety, Beaverhead County High School; Ryan McArthur and Alexa Audet, Broadwater High School; Jay Kroll and Kaitland Shatto, Drummond High School; Chloe Dedman, Ennis High School; Becky Hattersley, Jefferson County High School; David Phillips and Garrick Thompson, Powell County High School; Christopher Tenda, Twin Bridges High School.

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