Family and consumer science teachers to meet in Havre

More than 60 teachers from around Montana will be attending the annual meeting of the Montana Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Wednesday through Friday at the Best Western Havre Inn and Suites.

To old-timers, the subject might be better known as home economics, said Mary Kay Rambo, a retired teacher at Chester-Joplin-Inverness and organizer of the event.

But the new name better explains what the course offers today.

“It changed dramatically over the years I was a teacher,” she said.

The changes involved not only what was taught, but the students.

“In the last few years I was teaching, I had more boy students that girls,” she said.

Rambo and Marge Leeds, a Havre High School teacher, are the co-chairs of this week’s event.

Several Hi-Line residents will play an important role in the conference as presenters and speakers, she said.

Activities will open Wednesday night at Wolfer’s Diner in downtown Havre with a 1950s social.

Tours will be offered of Havre Beneath the Streets, the Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump, the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum, the Triangle Communications Smart Home Project and Montana State University-Northern.

Havre School Superintendent Andy Carlson will speak, and attendees will hear a discussion on Havre history by Jim Magera.

Blaine County Undersheriff Frank Billmayer will speak on Internet crimes against children.

Havre business woman Renelle Braaten will speak about her company, Enell Sports Bras.

Caleb Kriser, manager of Montana Horizons Organic Snacks, will talk about his Big Sandy business that produces healthy snacks made from the ancient grain Kamut.

A host of other speakers will inform the participants of changes in the field, Rambo said.

Such a variety of speakers is needed, she said, because the field is always changing.

Topics such as home finances and food preparation are always needed, she said.

“I’ve noticed that less and less of this is being taught in the home,” she said.