Dutton student started Empty Bowls fundraiser

Day or night, Jake Duty can be found at Dutton-Brady High School.

It’s not unusual for the senior, bound for University of Montana Western this fall, to be helping kids make pottery, tutoring a trumpet player or attending play practice until 8:30 or 9 p.m.

“I have a great dedication to serve others,” said Jake, the son of Ron and Becky Rosholt and Rod Duty.

Jake was selected as a Great Falls Tribune Academic All Star. Only 10 seniors from northcentral Montana who have excelled both in the classroom and in their communities were chosen.

“It’s definitely very important to try as hard as you can in your academics while helping to make your community better,” Jake said.

As a sophomore, Jake started an Empty Bowls program. In the past three years, Jake tutored 60 students and logged more than 400 hours of community service, teaching them how to make pottery bowls through the after-school program and through organizations at the high school. The bowls, usually about 80, were later auctioned off to benefit the Teton County Food Bank.

“I wanted to help others learn how to throw pottery and at the same time help hungry families — I’m trying to make a difference,” he said.Through the Empty Bowls fundraiser, which took four months from start to finish each year, $2,300 was collected for the food bank.

Jake taught kids as young as 5 to make pottery.

“You have to be very clear on what you say,” he said of teaching the youngest students. “ Sometimes it takes longer, but that’s OK.”

Jake plans to major in environmental science and may minor in the arts. He is interested in starting an Empty Bowls fundraiser in college as well.

As the student body president at Dutton-Brady High School, Jake also has been busy.

He formed a committee to revamp the policy that would allow students “to express themselves while still being respectful,” he said.He is working to change two policies in the student handbook. He is fighting to allow students to use their cell phones during their lunch hour and helping to revise the dress code, banning athletic shorts. Under the new policy, leggings or yoga pants could only be worn in a respectful way.

After three revisions, the policy was taken to the school board. It hasn’t yet passed.

Jake is also FFA president and has helped out at church camps throughout high school. He played basketball, was in art club, National Honors Society, was involved in school plays — including playing the lead role in this spring’s play, was in speech and drama, pep club, pep band, honor band and district and state music festivals.

“If they need me to be somewhere, I will probably be there,” Jake said