HILARY MATHESON
EDUCATION REPORTER
Hilary Matheson covers education for the Daily Inter Lake. Her reporting focuses on schools, students, and the policies that shape public education across Northwest Montana. Matheson regularly reports on school boards, district decisions and issues affecting teachers and families. Her work examines how funding, enrollment and state policy influence local school systems. She helps readers understand how education decisions affect students and communities throughout the region.
IMPACT: Hilary’s work provides transparency and insight into the schools that serve thousands of local families.
Recent Stories
Camp trains future speakers, debaters
As Flathead High School enters its 100th year of speech and debate, 34 middle school hopefuls learned the fundamentals in a summer camp this week hosted by the school.
People invited to join Superintendent Socials
New Kalispell Public Schools Superintendent Mark Flatau is a proponent of open dialogue and transparency.
Swank gets West Valley School job
Swank Enterprises has been selected as the contractor for the West Valley School addition and renovation project.
... In with the new: Arts and technology center will be state-of-the-art
WHITEFISH HIGH SCHOOL
Whitefish High School’s performing arts and technology wing has a new image to match its current transformation into a state-of-the-art facility.
Whitefish High School construction: Out with the old...
WHITEFISH HIGH SCHOOL
Demolition of the former A wing made considerable progress last week as construction continues at Whitefish High School.
Tanzania school has Kalispell benefactor
Larry Passmore, 85, is hoping for good health to make his eighth visit to the MaaSAE Girls Lutheran Secondary School in Tanzania this winter.
Teen prepares for pageant
Madyson Rigg will represent Montana in the upcoming Miss Teen USA competition.
Onions for Autism, Veggies for vets sign
Farming for the Future Executive Director Sherry Lewis-Peterson points to raised beds at the "Onions for Autism, Veggies for Vets" community garden at the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls.
Onions for Autism, Veggies for Vets
James Wilhelm, 10 and his cousin Omni Wilhelm, 7, and Lynn Rose Pine build an outdoor pizza oven during a free summer came organized by the nonprofit Farming for the Future Academy.
Dog doc features Kila couple
Confident, loyal, devoted, agile and intelligent are all words used to describe the hardy Rottweiler, one of the oldest — and most misunderstood — working dog breeds.
A level playing field: Kalspell's Miracle League draws lots of cheers from players, fans
On Tuesdays and Wednesdays in June and July, the cheers are unending at Kidsports Miracle Field in Kalispell.
Whitefish Christian Academy expanding
Big changes are coming to a growing Whitefish Christian Academy.
Artist with a heart
Mary Sierra of Kalispell greets everyone with open arms.
A girl with grit
Under a polite and pleasant exterior, Estelle Shannon of Kalispell is tenacious.
Youths let imaginations run free during Camp Invention
Novel camp taps into creativity for prospective young Edisons
A total of 64 children let their imaginations morph over five days last week during Camp Invention at Elrod Elementary School in Kalispell.
Board still looking at three school sites
Kalispell school officials continue to look for a future elementary school site as room runs out in existing schools.
Bigfork team competes at international event
Imagination, innovation and goodwill abounded at the Destination Imagination Global Finals in Knoxville, Tenn., where 7,978 students from kindergarten through college converged to compete.
Schools to have full-time outreach post
Kalispell Public Schools will have a full-time outreach coordinator position next year following a June 10 school board decision.
Girl, grandma buckle up for pageant
The grandmother-granddaughter team of Connie Jones, 57 and Esmeralda Ramos, 11, from Kila will compete in America’s Super Pageant on Sunday in Hamilton.
Montessori quartet wins state competition for web projects
The four-student team engineered a project to help lower child obesity in the Flathead Valley
A Kalispell Montessori team took first place at state in eCybermission, a web-based competition, for the sixth-grade level.
Sibling scientists reach world stage
Colin and Colter Norick, two ambitious brothers from Columbia Falls, have gained international recognition with their science project, “The Correlation between Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) Levels and Cognitive Function in Healthy Teens.”
Glacier grads greet future
A few minutes before graduation began at Glacier High School, pods full of graduates put their game faces on for a final performance, possibly the most significant of their high school career.
Graduation weekend kicks off in style
On Friday, about 300 Flathead High School seniors donned their caps and gowns and walked into school for the last time as students.
Students post meaningful video
‘Empathy can change the world’
It wasn’t a cute kitten, a stunt, a beauty tip or rant that a group of Kalispell Middle School eighth-graders wanted to post on YouTube. Instead, they chose to post a video about empathy.
Bound for Yale, Flathead senior takes on life one thing at a time
Class of 2014: Multitaskers
A 4.0 grade point average, an International Baccalaureate diploma and admission to prestigious Yale University are a few of the fruits of Jenna McGuire’s meticulous labor.
Busy with sports, speech, music, Columbia Falls senior has done it all
When talking about Mason Gedlaman, one has to ask: What is the Columbia Falls High School senior not involved in?
School sculpture a hands-on effort
Pieces of the Old Steel Bridge have become a work of art through the collaboration between Linderman Education Center art students and metal and glass artist Lee Proctor.
Kalispell high schools may change finals exemptions
This may be the last year Glacier and Flathead high school students can opt out of final exams based on attendance.
Quartet qualifies for national event
Four members of Flathead High School’s Family, Career and Community Leaders of America have qualified for nationals after earning top scores at state.
Academy student named Presidential Scholar
Nicholas Spinale of Kalispell recently was named a 2014 U.S. Presidential Scholar.
Camera, action: Kalispell teacher thrives on excitement
Whatever terrain life brings to Noah Couser, the 29-year-old takes it on with passion — whether in front of the classroom teaching or behind a camera in deep powder photographing skiers at Whitefish Mountain Resort.
Eighth-graders get the WeatherBug
Future Helena Flats and West Valley eighth-graders will have the tools to become novice meteorologists with the recent installation of WeatherBug Tracking Stations.
Teacher's generosity lives on after her death
Katheryn Maerz wants people to remember her mother, Susan Smith of Columbia Falls, as a woman who was passionate about education and the outdoors.
School board remains with state coalition
After a long discussion Tuesday, the Kalispell school board voted to renew its membership in the Montana Quality Education Coalition at a cost of $4,000.
Students channel lives of famous people
Luminaries throughout history made an appearance Wednesday at Peterson Elementary School in Kalispell.
Trustees debate how to fund technology
What next?
New kitchen cranking out school meals
The Kalispell Public Schools central kitchen is the hub of student nutrition, serving more than 2,000 meals daily for kindergarten through fifth grade plus some baking for the high schools.
Whitefish senior wins scholarship to study in Morocco
Senior Claire Watts will be the first student at Whitefish High School to receive a Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Abroad full, merit-based scholarship.
Claire Watts
Senior Claire Watts will be the first Whitefish High School student to study abroad in Morocco through the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study program. (Hilary Matheson/Daily Inter Lake)
Thousands bring out their inner Spartan
A very Spartan Saturday
Hordes of Spartan Racers were released in waves of 200 participants every 15 minutes to face about 15 obstacles involving watery ditches, ropes, steep climbs, high walls, fire and barbed wire in the 2014 Montana Spartan Sprint.
Dads Of Great Students: Watch D.O.G.S. serve as mentors, friends
From the classroom to the lunchroom to the playground, the men of Watch D.O.G.S (Dads of Great Students) are tutors, mentors and friends to students at Elrod Elementary School in Kalispell and Muldown Elementary School in Whitefish.
QB makes pitch for financial literacy
About 60 business and finance students wearing Flathead High School football jerseys were ready to tackle a round of financial literacy with Braves alumnus and Denver Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler.
Split decision on Kalispell tech levies; C-Falls OKs general fund levy
Kalispell passes elementary levy, rejects high school levy
Two vie for Democratic nomination in Kalispell district
House District 7 election
Democrats Catherine Henderson and Alex Schaeffer are vying for the Montana House District 7 seat, and both candidates are focused on educational and environmental issues.
Duo win auto skills state championship
Flathead High School seniors Chance Borden and Colten Wiley will represent Montana at the national Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills finals and compete at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Mich.
District reaches critical point for finances
Columbia Falls schools election
The Columbia Falls School district has subsisted with budget cuts for more than a decade and school officials say they have reached a point where there’s not much more they can cut.
Fair-Mont-Egan aims for building reserve OK
Fair-Mont-Egan School officials are asking voters to approve a five-year $100,000 building reserve levy in a walk-in election from noon to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, in the school music room.
C. Falls launches academic endowment
Columbia Falls High School academics will get a boost from a new source of funding in the community.
Stress relievers
Nursing students share research with high schools
Hives, rashes, nausea, dizziness and increased heart rates are all symptoms Nicole Dearing, a Kalispell Public Schools nurse, was seeing in high school students.
