Famed and wonderful Ms. Linda Cotton, Cascade School's Business Education teacher, Business Professionals of America (BPA) Advisor, and defacto leader of our Rabbits, will retire after 44 years teaching Montana's children at the end of this school year.

Ms. Linda Cotton hails from Harlowton, Montana and attended public school there. She graduated with Honors from Western Montana College in Dillon with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Education in 1973, and took her first job teaching in Geyser. She came to Cascade Public Schools in 1976 as the Homebound Tutor, then came on staff in 1978 as the Business Ed teacher and co-taught with Ron Evenson. She received her Masters in Career and Technology Education with an Emphasis in Business and Marketing from the University of Idaho in 2008.  Over the years she has also been a class advisor, Business Professionals of America (BPA) advisor, liaison between the Cascade Women’s Club and Cascade Schools for HOBY, and managed the Cascade Food Bank with the help of her students. Linda attained her Master of Professional Technical Education with an emphasis in business and marketing from University of Idaho in 2008. She has been recognized over the years as a great teacher, including: Montana ACTE Business Teacher of the Year several times, Montana BPA Advisor of the Year, National BPA 35 year Advisor, a 4H leader, a Girl Scout leader, served as an interim state OPI business advisor, a coordinator for numerous state and regional BPA conferences, and an Association for Career and Technical Education Business Division (ACTE) officer.

If you were one of the three generations of students with Ms. Cotton as your teacher, you were one of her “rabbits”. Linda looks forward to remaining active in the Cascade community and school, visiting with her family in Bozeman, Great Falls, and Hawaii (mostly Hawaii...ok...really really really mostly), and taking sibling trips to New Orleans, Alaska, and wherever the adventure calls her. We take great pride in recognizing Linda today as she completes 44 years of teaching Montana’s youth.

The community is invited to attend a celebration in honor of Linda's classroom leadership on Thursday, May 24th, at 4:00pm, in the school cafeteria. Come and take part in the celebration, and stick around to have some coffee and cake.

Here's a link to the KRTV News coverage of Linda's career, click here.