Page 35 - Flathead Beacon // 10.5.16

TRANSACTIONS
WEEKLY BUSINESS BRIEFING
BONSAI FEATURES LOCAL INGREDIENTS IN ‘EVOLVING MENU’
On a recent Sunday afternoon, the owners of Purple Frog Gardens delivered a crate of tomatillos to Paul Meier, the chef at Bonsai Brew- ing Project’s outdoor grill.
The delivery is an example of the craft brewery’s commitment to fea- turing local ingredients not only in its beer, but also throughout its new menu and daily specials.
Meier is preparing to add new ele-
ments to the “ever-evolving menu,”
and the brewery recently added a third sta member to its kitchen, which will remain open through the winter, o ering après-ski items in addition to its staples — grilled kebabs of chicken, grilled ahi tuna or beef, which are also available as a pub rice bowl; a brewer’s gumbo of wine-barrel smoked chicken and Andouille sausage; the classic Bonsai cheeseburger topped with local spring greens; an array of salads and more.
“It’s a small menu, so it has to be good,” Meier said. “We serve food that we like to eat. We want people to walk away feeling full and nour- ished, not just full.”
The grill is open from noon to 8 p.m., and advertises its daily specials on the Bonsai Brewing Project Facebook page.
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school, the party’s over,” she said.
So far, most of the interest in the class has been from 9 to 12 year olds. Smith said by the time most students hit high school, they’ve got an idea of what they’d like to study, but coding experience early
on could a ect that as well.
Montana Code Girls is a free after-
school program, and no experience is necessary. Kalispell students will need to bring a laptop while Montana Code Girls waits on a grant for 150 computers.
During the fall semester, classes will get the girls familiar with binary, Smith said, and they’ll play games to get them familiar with code blocks containing prewritten code. Then, eventually they’ll start looking at what’s behind the blocks.
In the spring, the students will focus on the Technovation Challenge, a global competition for girls 9 to 19 to build a mobile app that solves a social problem in their community. They have to cre- ate a business plan, a pitch video, a logo, conduct a market survey, an explanation video of how the app works, and more.
If Montana has enough teams, it can become the site of an o cial regional competition, and the winners would go on to the semi nals at the global level. If they make it to the nals in San Fran- cisco, they compete for a $10,000 grand prize.
“It’s really an entrepreneurial chal- lenge,” Holmes said.
Coding is expected to be one of the most important job skills a person can
have on their resume, according to Burning Glass, which tracks job market analytics. In 2015, there were 7 million job openings that valued coding skills, which equates about 20 percent of the jobs that pay at least $15 an hour.
The beauty of coding is it is a mere medium waiting to be explored by the user. Girls can use it to bolster what- ever their existing interests are, Smith said. For example, graphic design stu- dents can learn coding and create their own work. The people who code on the design of major apps are considered art- ists, she said.
“There’s all these things that you can do,” Smith said. “You could create a mar- ket for what you’re doing.”
By summer 2017, Montana Code Girls will fall under the umbrella of Montana Code Kids to involve a program for boys, Holmes said, and the program will even- tually include a multi-week overnight coding camp.
But Smith is focused on the immedi- ate goal of nding students in the Flat- head. She said the class will be challeng- ing, but it will also be a place to meet peo- ple and have a good time while learning.
“I think it’s going to be really cool for the girls who participate,” Smith said.
For more information on Montana Code Girls, including registration, visit www.bigskycodeacademy.org/mon- tanacodegirls, or email Marianne Smith at [email protected].
mpriddy@ atheadbeacon.com
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