CMR’s Sandefur balances fun, academics and Ferris Bueller

C.M. Russell High’s Dylan Sandefur says he has three big heroes in his life: “My dad, Jesus and Ferris Bueller.”

“In that order,” he said.

His dad? “He’s just a good, honorable guy, who taught me everything I know.”

Jesus? “Of course, you just need Jesus in your life. Everybody needs a little Jesus in their life.”

Ferris Bueller? “Ferris Bueller has to be one of the single greatest, most influential souls in the history of humankind, really. You have to respect the man for what he did.”

Or didn’t do. Like go to school.

Dylan, the son of Paula and District Judge and state Supreme Court Candidate Dirk Sandefur, likely has not been ditching a lot of school as one of the Great Falls Tribune’s 10 Academic All Stars, who are comprised of seniors from northcentral Montana who have excelled both in the classroom and in their communities.

But Dylan has had a lot of fun, all while carrying a perfect 4.0 grade-point average and scoring a 33 on his ACT.

“I mess around,” he said. “I try to experience about as much as I possibly can.”

He took a very rigorous course load at C.M. Russell High, with honors algebra 1, honors algebra 2/trigonometry, advanced placement calculus, AP U.S. history, AP senior government and what the school describes its challenging economics course, in addition to honors chemistry and physics.

Dylan also has been active in student government, serving as vice president this school year.

He also was named first team all-state as a kicker on the Rustler football team.

He will continue playing football at Montana Tech this fall, where he plans to study geo-physical engineering.

“It’s a terrific engineering school, and I’m pretty good at math, so I figured I may as well do something like that,” he said. “Then they started recruiting me for football, so it worked out pretty well.”

He knows balancing rigorous academics and football could be difficult, but he has been doing that for some time.

“They have a lot of programs in place that allow you to stay on top of your work,” he said. “And it’s a smaller school, so you have more of a relationship with your professors. I’m not too worried about it honestly.”

He said he will miss his time at CMR.

“Growing up with a lot of these guys, getting to know people for over 10 years, it will be hard to walk away from that,” he said. “But it’s a new point in life. You got to deal with it.”

He knows he has a great support system behind him — and maybe even another hero.

“My mom is my rock,” Dylan said.