Ringing the centennial bell

ST. IGNATIUS — Mission Middle School history teacher John Fleming believes that history can’t just be learned from reading a book, and in his 37th year of teaching at St. Ignatius, he should know.

On Nov. 8, Fleming and about 30 students and teachers piled into a big yellow school bus and made a trip all the way to Montana’s capital city of Helena where they had the honor of ringing in the state’s centennial year with a historic bell that actually came from a church in St. Ignatius and once echoed across the Mission Mountain range.

This special opportunity was a result of Fleming’s hard work in bringing history to life for hundreds of Mission middle schoolers. He was this year’s recipient of the Montana Statehood Centennial Bell Award, which is an annual award given by the Montana Television Network (MTN), Sons and Daughters of Montana Pioneers and the Office of Public Instruction.

Montana was the 41st state to be admitted into the Union at exactly 10:40 a.m. on Nov. 8, 1889. The bell award was created to honor “a Montana teacher who has made a significant contribution to their students’ understanding and appreciation of Montana history and cultural diversity,” the governor’s website said.

Since 1995, Fleming has organized and chaperoned a four-day tour of Southeastern Montana for his eight grade classes. From St. Mary’s Mission to Grant Kohr’s Ranch and with 12 stops in between, students, teachers and volunteer parents sleep on gym floors and eat cafeteria breakfasts on a whirlwind adventure that packs as much history and beauty into four days as anyone could.

“Montana has some unbelievable places,” Fleming said. “And I haven’t even been everywhere yet.”

While times are changing, he said when he started the trip 15 years ago, many of his students had never been further away than Missoula. While a few stops have been added over the years, only one has ever been removed from the list. Fleming said Crystal Park is now a favorite stop among the students, where students are given a sifter and the afternoon to scour the woods in search of tiny crystals, which they get to keep.

“I really like middle schoolers,” he said. “They’re a kick.”

Prior to the trip, students are assigned a location and asked to research, write and produce a skit that will be performed live at their specific site.

“Set, costumes, everything is included in that,” Fleming said.

With sites like Old Faithful, Quake Lake or Lewis and Clark Caverns, building a set is probably the least of the students’ concerns.

“You don’t remember the day-to-day,” Fleming said. “You remember the experiences.”