Hans Bodenhamer has a vision for the future.

Where agencies like Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks or the Forest Service develop partnerships with schools, allowing students to learn, by doing real-world work.

Thanks to a grant from the Plum Creek Foundation, Bodenhamer will be able to come one step closer to that goal.

Bodenhamer teaches Geographic Information Systems at Bigfork High School and Middle School.

The $3,500 grant from Plum Creek will enable Bigfork’s GIS program to acquire five new laptops to run the program, and create a mobile lab, which they will take around Montana to teach other educators and students about GIS.

GIS is a computerized system for storing and analyzing data that is spatially referenced to the earth. It is one of the top programs being used in industry and business, Bodenhamer said, and is used in wildlife biology, engineering, forestry, city planning and marketing.

There aren’t many high schools that teach GIS as it’s a not obvious where the course belongs.

“It’s difficult to figure out where to put it because it’s so non-traditional,” Bodenhamer said. “But it’s real world. It’s a model of education I really like.”

Bodenhamer has taught GIS at Bigfork Schools for about five years. The high school classes evolved out of his work with GIS in the Bigfork Cave Club, which earned the students national recognition for their work.