Submitted by
Lincoln County Library, Troy Branch
Initial design plans for the Troy library and Opportunity Center were revealed at a community dinner held at Lincoln County Libraries Troy branch on Tuesday March 14. Partners Zero to Five Lincoln County, Unite for Youth, Troy Friends of the Library and Lincoln County Victims Witness Advocates were there in celebration of the project milestone. Guests were shown plans that included community meeting rooms, public office space, a demo kitchen, tech lab/maker space, teen area, and early literacy spaces, in addition to typical quiet library reading spaces. The dinner conversation was robust when guests responded to questions about how they could envision themselves interacting with the spaces, but when asked what is missing from the design there was little input.
“I think that makes this project design a win. The TLOC (Troy Library Opportunity Center) team has put in a lot of effort into community outreach, and we have really tried to listen to the community’s wants and needs and plan accordingly. It seems as if we have been successful.” Sharee Miller Troy Librarian stated.
Mosiac Architects revealed the design as part of the Primary Architect Report (PAR) their firm was hired to complete in August 2022 by Lincoln County Government and Lincoln County Troy Libraries using Community Block Development Grant funding. The full report is due out by May 2023.
The TLOC project is a grass roots effort to expand the Troy Library branch and build community center spaces spurred by work groups stemming from community listening sessions performed by Montana Economic Developers Association in 2020, and Montana Needs Assessment in 2017.
Project Partners Lincoln County Unite for Youth, Spring Up Troy, Libby Job Service, Zero to Five Lincoln County, Western Montana Mental Health, Lincoln County Government, and others have been meeting monthly, collaborating, and pooling resources for the past three years. Next steps for the team are to move into the capital funding campaign and flesh out a sustainability plan for the facility. More information can be obtained at www.lincolncountylibraries.com/TLOC
The Libby Middle High School Team Places at
The 38th Science Olympiad State Competition
Submitted by
Shannon Ostrowski and Renée Rose, Coaches
Back Row: Caleb Hart, Reed Viergutz, Bridger Moe, Kyle Svendsbye, Cleone Knopfle, Coach Shannon Ostrowski, Coach Adam Kirchenmann. Front Row: Holden Cooper, Anani Monroe, Jack Hayven, Andrew Vattimo, Julianna Shumate, Bryce Swandson, Ashley Cockerham, Keilen Weilacher, Nolan Barber.
Photo caption (left to right) Julianna Shumate and Ashley Cockerham with their Scrambler car.
Photos courtesy of Renee Rose.
The 38th Montana Science Olympiad was held on March 8th at Montana State University in Bozeman.
The Science Olympiad is an academic interscholastic competition which involved 33 high school and 32 middle school teams this year in a wide range of events involving all science disciplines.
The goal of Science Olympiad is to improve the quality of science education, increase student interest in science and provide recognition for outstanding achievement in science by students.
The students choose from fourteen possible events. Some events involve building and testing while other events involve researching specific topics. Libby was represented with eight high school and six middle school team members this year.
The Libby Middle and High School teams made an excellent showing at the state tournament at Montana State University with seven events placing in the top ten.
A highlight this year was the first place medal won by Ashley Cockerham and Julianna Shumate for their Scrambler event. For Scrambler the students had to build a device to launch a vehicle forward down a track using the dropping of a weight as the sole means of propulsion. An egg mounted on the front of the vehicle needs to get as close to the target as quickly as possible without hitting the target with enough force to break the egg.
Another highlight was the fifth place finish by Keilyn Weilacher for the Building Detector. Keilyn built and calibrated an electronic pressure sensor to accurately measure a given weight.
Kyle Svendsbye and Andrew Vattimo received a 6th place finish for Trajectory and Julianna Shumate earned an 8th place for Rocks and Minerals.
On the Middle School Team, Bridger Moe earned a 6th place for Wheeled Vehicle and Caleb Hart received 8th place for Disease Detective.
The Libby Science Olympiad team would like to thank Gear Up for providing financial support and transportation which made the trip possible and a special thank you to Adam Kirchenmann, a graduate of Libby High School and Montana State University, who provided invaluable coaching advice and expertise.