Whitehall, MT

Today we hung out in the new Community Room at the middle school and held mini listening sessions with kids from each High School study hall. In all, 57 kids came down to talk with us throughout the day. It was a fun day – the kids had some great stories and some interesting observations. As you would expect, there was a lot of variation, but there were some common themes and surprising findings.

Many kids said they really liked Whitehall. They like the size of the town, the location, the great hunting and fishing opportunities and all of our great amenities (the pool, skatepark, movie theater, rodeo arena, library etc). Kids liked our restaurants, especially KFC, the Chinese Restaurant and Crzy Bear pizza. Many kids thought that our medical clinic was really a great and they thought the school was great too.

We asked what kids would like to see in Whitehall in the future. Again, not total agreement, but numerous commonalities. Many said that they wanted to retain Whitehall’s small town feel. Like many adults, they also would like to see less litter and more law enforcement. They wanted to see a new park with picnic tables, playground equipment, swings and maybe even a fountain.

We heard an underlying desire for better understanding of youth by adults in town. One kid said “We can’t just hang out because people think we are getting into trouble.” There was a desire for more places to go and things to do for youth, especially at night. One girl said “We can’t even go out at night. You are looked down upon if you are out at night.” Someone else wanted youth representation on the selection and planning of community events so that events better reflected the interests of youth.

Some things surprised us. A number of kids said that they would like to see more diversity in town. With more people from other cultures, and more cultural events in general, we would have more interesting food, interesting people and different music. Diversity and openness to diversity was of interest to many. Another fairly common comment was the desire for more adults in their 20s and 30s living in town.

We asked about the kinds of jobs that kids would like to see here, specifically to replace mining jobs should the mine close. Some said they wanted high paying jobs so that they could come back and live. “You are not going to make a living earning grocery store wages, housing is too expensive.” Several kids mentioned that they would like a hospital – either as another amenity or as a place that they could come back home to and earn a good wage once they are out of school.

Much of the conversation revolved around improved and upgraded recreational opportunities for youth. A very common interest was a better outside basketball court and the ability to get into the bowling ally again. A number of kids mentioned that the rodeo grounds were great, but that they could use some improvements such as bleachers and stalls. Adding a golf course to town was also a fairly frequent wish of youth. Numerous other recreational opportunities were mentioned including more shopping opportunities, lazer tag, paint ball, dirt bike/motorcross etc. Adding an animal shelter was mentioned by almost every group.

More to come on the great conversations we had with the city council, ranchers, senior citizens, middle school student council and 4 H’rs today.