On Wednesday afternoon, Chinook High School senior forward Jackson Nordboe officially signed his letter of intent to play basketball at Montana State University-Northern. He was surrounded by family, friends, teammates, and coaches at the Floyd-Bowen Gymnasium when he made his proclamation.
 
Nordboe had offers to play at the next level from other schools, but he ultimately chose Northern because, "There is a lot of history and foundation there. My two aunts played for Northern (one basketball and one volleyball), and (I) hear stories about Coach Mouat carrying me around at Skylights practice."
 
"I've never missed a Summer League program, and had an opportunity to play for Coach Huse during some travel ball as a kid," Nordboe continued. "As long as I remember, I wanted to be a Light, and couldn't be more excited."
 
Nordboe is a multi-sport athlete, excelling at football and basketball. On the hardwood, the 6-foot-4 big man was one of two seniors to help usher in a new wave of Sugarbeeter boys basketball players. He averaged 14.6 points a game and 7.3 rebounds per contest in his final season wearing the Chinook uniform, which saw him named the Tom Kezar team MVP in addition to leading the team in blocks and free throw shooting. After a regular season of struggles as a team, he helped galvanized his Sugarbeeters to postseason upsets of Rocky Boy and Cut Bank as Chinook was able to qualify for Divisionals. On the gridiron, he starred at wide receiver and was also named "Homecoming King".
 
"Jackson is a guy who has always been around our program whenever he can be … during the season, and in the off-season at our Summer League and camps," Northern coach Shawn Huse said. "His passion for Northern has made him a great prospect to add to the room. His work ethic is well above the norm and I am confident he will be pushing his teammates each and every day."
 
"It will be fun to have him working and interacting alongside the guys each and every day at all the things we do in basketball, on campus, and in the community," Huse continued. "He just fits here at Northern and we are very excited to have him join our group!"
 
Northern has been adding weapons to a roster that went (11-18) in 2023-24, as the team loses only two seniors and will return the bulk of the team in 2024-25.