Mr. Carlson has been in the Capital High system for a long time and now that he is leaving there is a huge process to replace him taking place. The many candidates have been pared down to five prospects. And these five were put to some serious tests. They all had outstanding qualifications and would make a great addition to the Capital High administration family.

Dressed in black and white, the 8th annual CHS Gala concert was the place to be on March 15th. The CHS band, choir, and orchestra participated in a musical evening at the civic center. Duane Zehr, known as “The Wizard” to the musical folk around Capital, directed the band in “British Irish Suite”, “As Summer Was Just Beginning”, and “Galop.”

Duh duh duh… that sneaky word, credit, has come up again. Maybe it was a fun commercial singing about some credit report website, or a story on the news about increasing debt due to credit cards. There is an abundance of negative information about credit out there, and for good reason- used incorrectly, credit can not only affect your life in the future, but can drastically affect your lifestyle today!

Whether you are just beginning your college hunt as a freshman, sophomore, junior, or possibly (gulp) senior or putting the finishing touches on your selection, its clear that the road from high school to college is both rocky and uncharted for many students today. As a senior who has undergone a lot of research on the topic of the college choice, I have crafted a handy guide for all ages and levels of college searching in order to help out future generations.

While it may be depressing having a little (or a lot) less dough in your pocket for entertainment, the Internet provides many free entertainment sources. When it comes to the Internet, it seems that many of the best things in entertainment are free.

In these hard economic times, most people are thinking more about saving money than having fun, but there are definitely ways to do both. Finding not only a cheap hobby but also one that is fun and new could be a good thing for anyone. There are plenty of fun but very expensive activities out there and there are also plenty of cheap and utterly boring activities, but a happy medium between the two is best. Five activities that should appeal to a variety of different types of people are bicycling, playing Frisbee, playing badminton, arts and crafts, and thrift store shopping.

It seems that in times of economic woe, the fabulous, albeit frivolous, is the first to be cut from our newly revised budgets. A slashed budget however, does not necessarily mean you have to give up your penchant for shopping altogether. These are the times to look at shopping as a (fierce) challenge.

We have all felt the hit of the recession, but some have felt it more than others. This recession is a great opportunity to get together as a community and help each other out. Something fun and helpful is volunteering. There are plenty of places to volunteer around Helena. It’s a great way to give back and it totally counts as a good deed.

Saving money is steadily becoming a growing necessity in America. With the recent recession, blowing tons of money on food is not plausible. Between constantly being busy teenagers that are in town a lot and need to get food in a hurry, it is hard to find good healthy food that is not greasy fast food; but, is also not expensive.

A lot of people around the Helena area are worried about saving money and it is hard to find things that are right for your budget. As a result, people are either not getting quality food or they pay too much for it. No one should have to sacrifice a good meal or pay too much for a meal in their day just because of their budget! In Helena, getting a cheap and quick meal is difficult to spot but, with these five great meal deal ideas, you will be eating cheap.