On a sweltering day last summer, Amanda Weitzel, 17, and eight of her friends carpooled 45 minutes from their homes in Libby, Montana (population 2,675), to Lower Thompson Lake. Northwest Montana offers many cold, clear lakes, but Amanda, who organized the outing, chose Lower Thompson because she loves the rope swing there.

Photo Credit: Michael Gallacher High school senior Amanda Weitzel is looking for a college that's not too large, not too small, not too expensive, and close to her hometown in the northwest corner of Montana.

Amanda is conservative, the kind of teenager who has never violated her curfew. But she is no shrinking violet—she changes the oil in her car. So when her turn came around, Amanda hesitated for only a moment before she swung out over the lake and then, with a cry of glee, plummeted eight feet into the chilly water below.

Such are the innocent pleasures of Amanda Weitzel's life. On Wednesday nights she attends a Baptist youth group meeting. Afterwards she and her friends often pile into her '86 Subaru station wagon and head to the local drive-in movie. On weekends, they'll "drag the gut"—the local term for cruising Mineral Avenue, downtown Libby's main street. That is, if she's not camping or snowmobiling with her parents. Like many teenagers, she likes to shop—but the closest mall is 89 miles away, so shopping is not much of an option. That, she says, is a small price to pay for the joys of living in Libby.

"I like how my life is," she said, over chips and soft drinks at the lake, where the discussion centered on the upcoming Libby Logger Days, the town's annual celebration of its timber heritage. "I have good family and good friends."

She wants to go to college, and always has, "so I can have a really cool job—something that interests me," she explained. Amanda, a senior, is a good student; her 3.77 grade-point average ranked 19th in her class of 150 last year. She particularly enjoys math, which she has taken all through high school.

What is her number-one priority in choosing a college? "I'd like to be close to home," she said. That obviously limits her choices. She also doesn't want to live in a big city, which by her definition includes Spokane, Washington, population 189,000, which is 164 miles from Libby.

If Amanda wanted to, she could live at home and attend the Lincoln County campus of Flathead Valley Community College, which is in Libby, or commute the 89 miles to the main campus in Kalispell. But neither, she feels, would provide enough of a "real" college experience, with dormitories and other opportunities. So Amanda is considering two schools: the University of Montana in Missoula, which is 190 miles from Libby, and North Idaho College, in Coeur d'Alene, 134 miles from home. She doesn't know much about either of them, though she has checked out the University of Montana website and discovered that the school is "a lot bigger than I'd imagined."

So far, Amanda knows very little about college life. The most time she's ever spent on a college campus was this summer, when she took a 15-minute walk around the University of Montana. Most of her information comes from friends and one cousin who briefly attended Montana State University, in Bozeman, but quit to come back to Libby and get married. An only child, Amanda has a close relationship with her parents, Cindy and Ray, both of whom grew up in Libby. As the family discussed Amanda's future in their modest three-bedroom home, Amanda displayed no hint of the combativeness or surliness that usually accompanies adolescence. Instead, there was mutual respect and admiration.

"She's a good kid," her mother said.

Amanda is, in fact, the kind of kid most parents dream about. She doesn't drink alcohol. Doesn't smoke. Doesn't swear. Her bedroom is spotless. Her parents never have to nag her about her schoolwork. She doesn't spend much time watching television or playing on the computer. This summer, she read Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul #3, a collection of uplifting stories and life lessons by and about teenagers.

Both Cindy and Ray attended college briefly, but neither completed a degree. "I always wanted to go to college," Ray said. But after a quarter at Montana State University in Bozeman, he lost interest and came back to Libby, where he later opened Raycin Automotive, a car repair shop he named after himself and his wife. Cindy attended Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, for a year, then transferred to Utah Technical College (now Utah Valley State College), which she attended for a quarter until she decided to move back to Libby to be with Ray.

Ray and Cindy support Amanda's plans to attend college, which they feel will give her more options for her future. Cindy expects that Amanda will marry, but she also wants Amanda to be able to support herself—preferably with a job she enjoys. "I don't want her on her feet counting money all day," said Cindy, who is a teller at the Libby branch of First National Bank of Montana. Cindy has always regretted that she never finished college, and she is pleased that Amanda will have the opportunity to do so. But like Amanda, she's already experiencing separation anxiety.

"It's getting really close and I'm not liking it," Cindy said. "She's my bud. She's my pal."

Amanda has mixed feelings about leaving home. On the one hand, she is looking forward to more independence. On the other, she is concerned about leaving everything that is familiar. "I'm excited for it but a little nervous," she said. "But I think it'll be a good experience."

Amanda has thought vaguely about studying architecture ever since she wrote a report about the profession for a freshman-year class. Interior design, she points out, might be a better option for her: It doesn't appear to demand the grueling hours. Not that Amanda is afraid of work—she just thinks there's more to life.

For several years Amanda has had an after-school job at the bank where her mother is employed. Last year, she put in 15 hours a week cleaning and shredding documents for $6 an hour. This past summer, she also took a half-time secretarial job at a local law firm. She uses the money she earns—plus her allowance of $10 a week—to pay for gas and for car insurance. And she saves for college.

Neither Amanda nor her parents have calculated how much college will cost, but they know it will be expensive. Tuition at the University of Montana is about $2,800 a year, and there will be living expenses. "I worry about it all the time," Cindy said. She envies bank customers who planned ahead, and she wishes that she and her husband had started saving for college sooner.

Photo Credit: Michael Gallacher Amanda Weitzel alongside a town landmark in Libby, Montana.

Ray seems less anxious. "We'll just do whatever we can to help her out," he said, joking that he might have to sell Amanda's beloved snowmobile to raise some extra cash. The family hasn't looked into educational loans or grants.

How to pay for college is also a big concern for many of Amanda's friends. Libby is the county seat of Lincoln County, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. The timber and mining industries that traditionally sustained the area are dying. And wages in Lincoln County are low, even by Montana standards: In 1998, the last year for which figures are available, average per capita income was $16,297, compared to the state average of $21,229, and a national average of $27,203.

One popular route for high school seniors in Libby is to enlist in the armed services. That's what 17-year-old Kaleena Couvillion expects to do after graduating in 2001. "I couldn't pay for college, my parents couldn't pay for college," explained Kaleena, whose older brother already has enlisted. She wants the Army to train her in a health field—though she likely will have to remove her eyebrow rings and lip rings before they will do so.

Annette Sauby, 18, who recently moved to Libby, said she wasn't sure what she wanted to do after graduation next spring. "Mostly right now I'm wanting to get a job," said Annette, whose parents are both currently unemployed.

Some of Amanda's friends have specific aspirations. Sixteen-year-old Donna Mari wants a career in foreign policy. She attended a National Youth Leadership Forum on Defense, Intelligence and Diplomacy in Washington, D.C., and is part of Close-Up, a group of high school seniors planning to travel to Washington next year to learn more about government.

"A lot of people say it's impossible to get a good education in such a small school. But if you take advantage of the opportunities, it's fine," Donna said. She is considering Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, or St. Mary's College in northern California.

The biggest hurdle for Libby's graduating seniors may not be educational but geographical and cultural. Twenty-year-old Nancy Zamzow graduated from Libby High School in 1998. Already, she said, about a dozen couples from her graduating class of about 150 have married.

That horrifies Nancy. "Libby's a nice place but I don't want to stay here for the rest of my life," she said. Nancy is entering her sophomore year at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. Nancy and a few of her closest friends made a pact: It's okay to come back to Libby, but not until they have lived elsewhere.

That is part of Amanda's plan as well. After college, she would like to live in Libby if possible, but she knows that her hometown does not offer many career options. So she would consider Kalispell (population 16,089), the closest town that has broader economic opportunities.

Amanda's ambitions are modest: she'd like to get married, have one or two kids, work in an interesting job that provides enough money so that she can afford "a nice car, a nice house, and nice stuff-to where everything's dependable."

In short, what Amanda wants is a life pretty similar to the one she and her parents have now. Her hope is that college will help her to attain it.