Voters on Tuesday will have five candidates from whom to choose for two positions on the Flathead Valley Community College Board of Trustees.

Incumbents Mark Holston and Shannon Lund are being challenged by Michael Hebert, Day Scovel and Ursula Wilde for the three-year terms set to end in May 2016.

The board seats represent the Flathead and Glacier high school district in Kalispell.

Residents of the Deer Park, Fair-Mont-Egan, Kalispell, Creston, Cayuse Prairie, Helena Flats, Pleasant Valley, Evergreen, Marion and Olney-Bissell school districts may vote at the Expo Building at the Flathead County Fairgrounds between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Residents of the West Valley and Somers-Lakeside school districts may vote at their respective schools from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Residents of the Kila district may vote at that school from noon to 8 p.m., and people in the Smith Valley district may vote at that school from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Following is information on the five trustee candidates:

Michael Hebert

Age: 40

Hometown: Lakeside

Employment: Owner, Farmer’s Insurance, Kalispell

Insurance agent, gun enthusiast and former FVCC student Michael Hebert is running for the college board of trustees because he believes in service.

“As a former student, I have a very fond association with the school,” Hebert said. “I know a lot of the staff and faculty, and when you’re part of a community and have a fondness for it, you serve.”

One of Hebert’s goals, if elected, is to provide more support for faculty by finding the private funding necessary to make the large proportion of adjunct professors and teachers into full-time staffers, as well as funding for other school purposes.

He would also like to increase the school’s partnerships with local businesses and local industries to provide as many opportunities for students as possible.

Hebert is the director of the Bigfork Gun Club, is a member of trap and skeet shooting leagues, and enjoys hunting, fishing, and hiking.

Mark Holston

Age: 66

Hometown: Kalispell

Employment: Freelance journalist

Mark Holston has served 12 years on the FVCC board and has no plans to stop any time soon.

“If you look at the past 12 years since I was first elected, the college has more than doubled in size, student enrollment has more than doubled, and we continue to offer new programs to attract more students and new ways to meet the workforce needs of the community,” Holston said.

If re-elected, Holston’s main goal would be to build a partnership “with one of the major four-year institutions in the state” to increase FVCC’s bachelor’s degree programs. He would also like to improve the school’s perception among local high school students considering where to attend college.

While no longer active on any boards except that of the college, Holston has been chairman of the Hockaday Museum board among other affiliations. In his spare time, he is the leader of the Cocinando Latin Jazz Orchestra.

Shannon Lund

Age: 55

Hometown: Kalispell

Employment: Formerly with Intermountain Children’s Home

Shannon Lund, appointed in 2011 to complete the term of John Engebretson and then elected two months later, is looking to win election to her first three-year term on the board.

“I’ve enjoyed my last two years,” Lund said. “I’ve been humbled and privileged, honored, to serve the residents of Flathead County, and I would be honored to serve for the next three years.”

Lund’s goals for the college include continuing the board’s current efforts to increase the bachelor’s degree programs by working with the university system on the higher education center at FVCC.

If she could change anything about the school regardless of cost, time, or opposition, Lund said she would still be focused on the school’s available curriculum.

“I would add any class, any workforce training that was necessary or asked for in our community and be able to do it all,” Lund said. “Of course, because of funding and other things, you can’t. But I think that’s what we try to do.”

Day Scovel

Age: 35

Hometown: Kalispell

Employment: Self-employed

A graduate of FVCC and a third-generation Kalispell resident, Day Scovel hopes to be elected to the college board of trustees so he can give back to the institution.

“My first and foremost goal is to serve the school,” Scovel said. “I got a better education at FVCC than any of the other institutions I’ve taken classes at.”

He said he is very excited about the possibility of FVCC offering a larger slate of bachelor’s degree programs.

“That’s ultimately what I would like to see,” Scovel said, “a four-year, fully functional campus with on-campus housing, the whole shebang.”

He said he couldn’t stress enough that his candidacy was about giving back.

“An education at FVCC is practical,” he said. “I use it every day in business, so I want to give it back to them.”

Ursula Wilde

Age: 29

Hometown: Kalispell

Employment: Self-employed

The only current student running for the FVCC board, Ursula Wilde wants to provide a voice for the students on the board and to maintain the momentum already apparent at the school.

“I feel like the college has been doing a lot of really amazing things,” Wilde said. “In the last 10 years they have made huge improvements. I have no plans to derail that, no big radical plans. I think it’s important for the next 10 years to take a really comprehensive look at the resources we have and make sure we are using them to their full extent.”

She believes the college is at a point where it needs to determine whether it can be a kind of “everything to everyone,” or if it needs to become known for different specialties.  

Wilde is preparing to graduate with associate’s degrees in general science and liberal arts. She works for the Ambassador Program in the Scholars Program at FVCC and coaches her son’s soccer team.