Intrepid Web reporter finds fun, frolic and -- finally -- inspiration at Dean Stone Night

By Lindsay Henderson
J-School Web reporter

The ladies shellacked themselves with an extra layer of make-up, and it looked like some of the men had tied their own ties. The social hour was all mingling and hobnobbing. When I arrived, I asked if it was an open bar, and a fellow student scoffed at me. A girl can dream, can’t she?

More than $85,000 in scholarship money came and went on April 5 at the annual Dean Stone Night celebration, which honored students in the print, photo and broadcast emphases of the University of Montana School of Journalism.

We had a lovely dinner, but why balsamic vinaigrette? Everybody likes ranch — everybody.
Dean Jerry Brown cleverly welcomed and recognized people in the J-school with his opening speech. Apparently he mentioned my Web reporting — sadly, I was in the loo at the time.

Kaimin staffers presented Professor Carol Van Valkenburg with a Dean Stone award of their own making, because Van Valkenburg hadn’t received one 30 years ago when she was a journalism student at UM. But there were only three awards back then, she said, worth only about $39.99, so she’d take the plaque any day, thank you very much.

Dean Stone speaker Bill Finnegan, author and staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, gave a long talk the night before the banquet and a shorter one that night. But more on that in a minute.

What ensued after Finnegan’s speech was a tag team effort of award and dash. Professors from print, photo and broadcast announced more than 50 awards to 99 students in less than an hour. It was a feat of brevity duly appreciated; my face was on fire and I popped the stone out of my ring from clapping so much. Damn cheap ring.

Some of the big winners were:
• Tia Monteaux (junior, print), the Ralph and Hulda Fields Scholarship of $5,000
• Sarah Bonvallet (junior, photo), the Larcombe Family Scholarship of $5,000
• Keila Szpaller (1st year grad student, print), the Billings Family Scholarship of $3,850
• Kim Dobitz (senior, broadcast), the Connie R. Craney Scholarship of $3,500
• Leigh Jimmie (sophomore, photo), the Lee Native American Scholarship of $3,250
• Malcolm Brooks (1st year grad student, print), a Kim Williams Fellowship of $3,000
• Kristin Inbody (junior, print) and Jenny Kuglin (junior, broadcast) were awarded $2,900 each from the D.J. Schults Scholarship.
• Randa Alteneder (junior, print), the Dorothy Rochon Powers Scholarship of $2,750
• Diego Bejarano (sophomore, print), the Great Falls Tribune Minority Scholarship of $2,500


Dean Stone Night was prefaced with bright orange memo-warnings taped to walls in the J-school reminding students to be on their best behavior. That got me thinking there just might be some pandemonium.

For some reason I imagined students dancing on tables and creating a ruckus.

But for the most part everyone was really well behaved.

I brought my Polaroid camera to do an exposé on the debauchery, but there really wasn’t a whole lot of that going on. I saw KECI-TV News celebs Todd Reed, Mark Heyka, Heidi Meili and Wade Muehlhof — and even got a shot of Wade in mid-shovel. I admit I was a little star struck. I ran away before they could see me. (That’s not so intrepid!)

During the awards, Kaimin staffers were getting a little rowdy and the broadcasters had a high-pitched squealer among them while they belted out applause. Unfortunately for my exposé, none of them were dancing on the table.

But before all that, Bill Finnegan dropped a dollop of insight on us. He said while in the creative writing department at UM he was taught to "write about what you know." After making a career out of writing from happenstance, and covering wars and revolts in countries he happened to be in, he suggests doing the exact opposite.

"Write about what you don’t know," he said. "Break down barriers; they are there to be overcome. Take a chance and move off your safe center, do good work and have fun."

Sounds good.

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