The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

While substitute teaching at the Elementary School last week, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a cup of flavored coffee from Kira Witmer. Later, over the weekend, I learned that the coffee was delivered as part of the coffee cart, which gives teachers the opportunity to order coffee and snacks from the Special Education classroom at the High School. The initiative was pioneered by Kira in an effort to teach life skills to her Special Education classes. She hopes to see it grow in coming years: "At my other schools, we have always done coffee carts for the kids. It teaches them money skills. It teaches them how to be personable. It teaches them manners. Also, going to The Grocery Store. Learning how much things cost. Learning cooking. Stuff like that. We didn't have that here, and I really wanted those kids to have that opportunity. So that's kind of what prompted it. They let me teach in the manner I want to teach. So, this year I created the cooking class for my kids. We have the coffee cart for the teachers every week. We cook for them. We go shopping every Thursday and also cook as a class every Monday. Next year, I'm also going to offer the cooking classes for the other children as well - not just the Special Education kids. For the older kids, 10th, 11th, and 12th, I'm going to do an entrepreneurship/marketing type thing so they can learn the business side of it. Then the younger kids, the 7th through 9th graders are going to do the life skills type stuff. They'll cook, and I'm hoping during lunchtime, we'll be able to see some of the stuff we cook for the kids and stuff like that."

Kira has been teaching Special Education for 7 years, five years in Missouri and for the last two years in Big Sandy. Her path to the classroom started out with 6 years of service in the Air Force, during which she was stationed at Travis AFB in California. There she met her husband. His term of service ran one year longer than hers, leaving her extra time to complete her college degree. She initially started her schooling while in the military, then completed her degree in Psychology before moving to Missouri, where her husband was from. He farmed while she began her educational career. "When we first moved to Missouri,I realized I couldn't do anything with just a Psychology degree. So I became a para. As a para, I learned that I really wanted to do Special Education. I always wanted to be a math teacher, but then I realized I liked the Special Education part. It went from there... In Missouri, I could teach Special Ed with a Bachelors in Psychology. So that's how I got into teaching, and then I figured since I am a teacher, I might as well have a degree in teaching. So then I got my Masters in Special Education. Since that's what most of my other classes were in, it was the one that took the least amount of extra class work to do."

In response to my question about her attraction to Special Education, she told me: "One, I love the children. I love seeing how they persevere, how they rise to their challenges. How a lot of them don't use their disabilities as a crutch. They truly are just like every other kid. I want them to have every opportunity the regular ed kids have."

The Witmer family moved to Montana when Kira's husband, Thomas took a job working for Bahnmiller Farms. Thomas was raised farming and looked for farm work around the country. The couple finally agreed on Montana because it matched his love for prairie country and her preference for mountainous areas. The family also cites the cold weather as a reason for the move.

"We love it here. The kids enjoy all the sports they are a part of and it's a nice little community. We are happy to be here..." Kira explained about her experience in Big Sandy so far, going on to say that they have "no inkling of going anywhere else."

Much of the couple's free time outside the home is devoted to their children's activities. Logan (age 12) and Autumn (age 8) are involved in Boys and Girls Scouts. Autumn is also involved in wrestling and takes dance lessons in Havre. Logan competes on the basketball and wrestling teams.

In her free time Kira reads fantasy novels, books by Nicholas Sparks, and military adventure type books, like the work of Vince Flynn. She also crochets, making a lot of blankets, as well as scarves and other items as gifts. She does puzzles, and the entire family enjoys regular game nights, when they play board games together or with neighbors.