Air Force Airman 1st Class Steven J. Vail recently graduated from the Combat Control School at Pope Air Force Base, in Fayetteville, N.C. The 13-week course is designed to train and qualify enlisted and officer candidates as combat air controllers. Among the first groups to deploy during a U.S. military special operation or airlift mission, combat air controllers operate under the most difficult and hostile conditions. Vail is a 2009 graduate of Whitefish High School.

The following Whitefish students were named to the dean’s list at the University of Montana-Western for fall 2010: Tanner Benedict, Jarred Krueger and Connor Silliker. All three earned a 4.0 GPA.

The following Whitefish students were named to the dean list at Montana Tech in Butte for the fall semester 2010 — Brendan Keister, 4.0 GPA; Christopher Kirkemo, Brendan Keister and Scott Yogodzinski, 3.5 GPA.

Andrew Hudak, of Whitefish, a junior in mechanical engineering, was named to the 2010 fall semester dean’s list at the University of Portland.

Jenna Hyer, of Whitefish, a junior from Montana State University on exchange at California Polytechnic University majoring in biomedical science, was named to the dean’s honors list at CPU for the fall term 2010.

William Carpenter, of Whitefish, was named to the dean’s list for the fall 2010 semester at the University of Vermont. Carpenter is a sophomore majoring in business administration.

Meagan Powell, of Whitefish, was named to the fall semester 2010 dean’s list at North Idaho College, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.