By JORDAN SPARR/Montana State News

Interviewing a journalist with as much experience as Ed Kemmick proved itself to be much more intimidating in anticipation than in action. Looking through Kemmick’s own Last Best News website, I called him with a bit of an apprehension. As the other line picked up, I was greeted with a hello, and I found that Ed Kemmick, as a true professional, knew how to be an interviewee to an inexperienced interviewer.

As we spoke of Kemmick’s past and experience as a journalist in Montana and Minnesota, one fact was made abundantly clear. He is a man who not only knows who he is and does what he wants, but also goes with the flow and knows how to take advantage of an opportunity.

Recounting how he came incredibly close to earning an actual degree, Kemmick told me that he went to the University of Montana for journalism, and all during one of the last few weeks of his final senior semester he had his daughter, got his first real reporting job, and experienced the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens. He figured he had learned what he needed to and decided that he was prepared and ready to start his career. Continue reading “Website the latest chapter in news career” →

By CHELSEA ANDERSON/Montana State News

“The really great thing about Kyle, is that he’s a self-sufficient researcher, you give him an outline of a project and he’s able to puzzle through the rest on his own. That’s a really unique quality in an undergraduate, and something you need to be able to do in order to make it in this field.”

– Rufus Cone, chief faculty for MSU optical technology center

If you spend any time with the physics department at MSU, chances are that you know the tall, red-bearded undergraduate, Kyle Olson. Olson has a large presence in the physics department, from the grade-wide study group he is a part of, to the research he does in Rufus Cone’s optics lab. Olson’s involvement in the department comes from his love and appreciation of the field, “I love physics, the science has a really interesting and fundamental way of looking at problems that just makes sense to me.”

When applying to come to school at MSU Olson picked physics on a whim, “When I came to orientation, I actually didn’t remember what I had signed up for as a major, I had to check my packet to see which department I was supposed to visit.”

Since his advent into the study though, he has never wavered. Continue reading “Whimsical choice leads to love of physics” →

By MERRIT GEARY/Montana State News  

I don’t think war when I look at Kyle Wyatt. I don’t think of the Marine Corps. I don’t think of a war veteran. I don’t even really see a hardened Marine. I see a 23-year-old college student who started late and works random shifts at the Montana State Gym as a lifeguard. I talk to Kyle Wyatt, though, and I see a Marine. I see it all even if he doesn’t say it all.

Kyle was always a quiet kid. He never really played any sports, cause any mischief or even have his first sip of alcohol until he was well into his career with the Marine Corps. He liked Xbox and silence when he was in high school. His seasons were never filled with sports, and he rarely found himself enjoying school. He liked it this way.

Kyle is a tall guy, with sandy brown hair. He wears solid color clothing, earth tones. He looks like he doesn’t really try to look any type of way. He has a long figure, tall. He smiles like he doesn’t know what else to do. There’s a lot Kyle doesn’t share but you can tell he likes it that way.   Continue reading “Once quiet kid now a Marine war veteran” →

By SARAH SNEBOLD / Montana State News

If you frequent the Montana State University library or take an Arabic course, chances are you know Bandar Alotibi. The senior in chemical engineering can be found with an entourage in tow, laughing and studying in the back corner of the library.

The challenge of pursuing a college degree at a university abroad would be daunting to most, but Alotibi smiles and speaks nonchalantly about the transition from Saudi Arabia to the United States. Alotibi joined Montana State University in 2013 and spent his first year at the English institute in Culbertson Hall.

He had the option to study in Canada, Australia, New Zealand or the United States. He came to the U.S. because he, “wanted to study abroad, have a new challenge and a new environment. The U.S. has the future I want with open-minded people and a good engineering school.“ Alotibi grew up in a small town, so he wanted to be in a similar size here. He also heard from his father’s friends that MSU was a good engineering school. Continue reading “Saudi pursues a degree in physics at MSU” →