Making the most of the transition, the local nonprofit Women in Action (WIA) recently changed their name to Wellness in Action (WIA) and the board hired a new executive director. MaryBeth Morand, who replaced Jennifer Reed, started as executive director on Feb. 1.
MONTANA CONNECTION
With Big Sky struggling to provide affordable housing and little inventory available in the real estate market, workers and local folks are turning to creative solutions for finding a place to live.
Back in 2006, Jeff Bolton signed a contract to join the Seattle Seahawks as a center in the National Football League after three and a half years as an offensive linesman at Montana State University. 16 years later, Jeff Bolton is one of three Battalion Chiefs for the Big Sky Fire Department behind Tetrault, Barker, and Megaard.
Like so many things in America today, the police are the topic of polarized conversations on a national scale. However, on a local level, it is important to engage in conversations with law enforcement and reveal the humans behind the job.
Raised in a small town in the mountains of Honduras, Samantha Suazo moved to Big Sky at the age of 12 seeking asylum in the United States with her mother.
What does it take to make a life in Big Sky? Ashley Jenks, the new K-12 librarian and mother of two little girls, is still figuring it out. For the past decade, Ashley worked as an elementary school teacher at Ophir. She met her husband Tyler when she was 13 years old back East in Kirby, Vermont.
Clara Greb tore her first ACL when she was 17. She tore her second ACL in the summer of 2020 while skiing near Yellowstone. “I was skiing up in the Beartooths and just felt a pop. I think that’s every skier’s, one of the worst nightmares that can happen, but it’s inevitable at some point.
Matt Jennings is an avid cyclist, school board member, and jack of all trades who left the flats of Waterloo for the mountains of Montana. He has lived in Big Sky since ‘94.
Jill Zeidler, one of few ceramic artists in Big Sky, picked up artwork as a child from her grandmother. Thanks to her elders, she always had her hands in something. With teenagers at Lone Peak High School now, Zeidler recognizes how art is turning away from the tangible to the digital.
Growing up in a blue-collar paper mill town in central Wisconsin means one thing later in life: you don’t worry about the length or the cold of winter.