Superintendent Moore calls Bridgette Long one seventh of a teacher. Bridgette is a new teacher at Big Sandy Junior High teaching Spanish. She teaches one period out of seven a day, hence one seventh of a teacher.
Actually Superintendent Moore is very happy to have Bridgette as a foreign language teacher is needed in Montana schools and Bridgette fits the bill very well.
Bridgette did not learn Spanish at Big Sandy High School where she graduated and went through all twelve grades. She went to Brigham Young University in Utah and decided to go on a mission for the Mormon church so she took a crash nine week course in Spanish before heading for her mission in Chili.
Today she laughs when she tells the story as she learned Spanish as it is spoken in Mexico and Spanish as it is spoken in Chili is a much different language so she did a lot of learning while she was there.
After a year in Chili Bridgette returned to Utah and got a degree in elementary education, then taught four years.
While there, she married Andrew Long, started a family and returned home when Andrew was offered the position of running the safflower oil processing for Bridgette's father, Bob Quinn.
"When we came back to Montana, I made sure I kept my teaching certificate up so I am qualified to teach up to the eighth grade," added Bridgette.
Bridgette teaches a semester of Spanish to seventh and eighth graders. She teaches Spanish to the eighth graders the first semester and the seventh graders the second semester. She has twelve in the eighth grade and will have twenty seventh graders next semester.
The class meets each first period in the library and Bridgette is having a great deal of fun teaching Big Sandy kids, many of whom are the sons and daughters of good friends as she graduated herself from Big Sandy High School in 2000.
One of the biggest differences Bridgette notices from when she went to school at Big Sandy High School is that the faculty has changed drastically. Only two are there from when she was going to high school.
Jim Barsotti was the principal and Carroll Lindsey was the superintendent.
Bridgette laughs when she says that the school still smells exactly the same as when she was a student there.
So, Andrew and Bridget moved to the Quinn farm where they live in Bridgett's grandfather's house. They have three children, Drew in the first grade, Brynn in kindergarten and Austin who is 3 ½ and an all around great guy.
As for Bridgette and her teaching, she said "The schedule is great. I teach one class and then go home and be a mom and a wife and I can even be a teacher too."
