Salishian Seniors!

Colby Yarger

Colby Yarger has had many accomplishments through his high school career at Polson High School. One of the bigger accomplishments was running for and being elected to the Student Body President. Yarger said he ran because,”I wanted to create change through Polson High School. I’ve noticed over past years, student body presidents didn’t really do what they said they were going to do. And so I was hoping by running I could maybe do some change.” After realizing he wanted to run he involved himself more with school spirit. He commented on this year’s school spirit and said, “Honestly I think this year we had the biggest student sections in sports, which I thought was very positive.” He hopes that he helped in uplifting the students’ school spirit during his presidential run. When asked if he had any advice for anyone who wants to run for student body president, he said, “No matter what happens, you have to campaign hard, be competitive but nice, and I mean just do it. I didn’t know I was going to do it, but it’s fun.”

After high school Yarger is planning on going into engineering at Montana Tech. When asked why he said, “I’ve always liked engineering and construction. I took all the construction classes here.” He was also the author of all the construction articles for the Salishian. Yarger joined Salishian his junior year and has served as editor for both years he’s taken the class. For his Pirate Pursuit, Yarger took the Salishian online, creating a website, and increased the paper’s social media presence on Instagram, giving more people greater access to our school news and welcoming a wider audience.

Dixie Montgomery

In her time at Polson High School, Dixie Montgomery has participated in swimming, choir, theater, and Salishian. One of her main interests has been swimming. Montgomery grew up surrounded by swimmers. She says, “My family has been swimming their entire lives. My mom did it in college, and my dad was on the summer swim team in Hamilton where he grew up.” Her dad, being so immersed in swimming, was naturally involved in the building of the Mission Valley Aquatic Center. Montgomery remembers going to the newly built pool with her dad and seeing the swim team for the first time. She said, “I remember just being around and seeing the swim team swimming, and I was just like, I want to do that.” Being in a family full of swimmers, it was a given that Montgomery would join the Polson Swim Team. After high school, Montgomery will attend Montana State University, where she also plans to join their intermural swimming team, which is a club that has practices and competitions for the swimmers. 

Montgomery has also participated in several theater productions at PHS. She’s played Pugs in The Addams Family, Beth in Little Women and Grace Farrell in Annie. With her immense experience, her getting the lead role in The Wizard of Oz was no surprise, but the play had to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Montgomery’s vocal talents also shine in choir. A member of multiple choirs for all four years of high school, Montgomery will compete at state music festival in several events in May.

Last year, Montgomery joined the Salishian staff and has enjoyed writing a variety of articles. The senior issue is her favorite because it allows her to use her creativity. Just check out the Memealicious section to see a sample of her work!

Haislea Sternick

Haislea Sternick has maintained an active presence throughout her four years here at Polson High School. She played on the soccer team all four years, she joined the crochet club, and she has been on the Salishian staff for two years. Sternick joined Salishian her junior year. She initially joined because she needed the extra credit but she ended up really enjoying it. She says, “I found it really fun to have a checklist of things I need to do and to cover stories and do interviews.” 

Being in Salishian has helped support Sternick embark on her career path into journalism. Sternick wants to attend college at the U of M, saying, “I picked journalism, but I don’t know exactly what pathway I specifically want to take. I’m super interested in international countries, so maybe I’ll do international journalism.” She feels pretty confident at her ability to outlet, which is creating connections with other people in your field, which is crucial to journalism.

Sternick started PHS Candid, an Instagram account where she shares photos that she took at school related events like prom or football games because everyone wanted her to send the photos she took with her digital camera to them. She said, “It was the first football game of my sophomore year, and I brought my digital camera for the first time and took photos. Everyone’s like, please send it, and I didn’t want to individually send it to everyone so I just created the Instagram account.” She’s been sharing photos and stories ever since.