Jan. 5 is Nellie Tayloe Ross Day. It marks the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of the nation’s first female governor.
A Green River High School social studies class drafted the proclamation and sent it to Gov. Mark Gordon, who signed it on Dec. 20 at the Sweetwater County District Courthouse.
This is the story of how the proclamation came to be, told by Green River High School social studies teacher Bridgette Nielsen, senior Keegan Gaily and senior Elena Apperson.
Bridgette Nielsen: I am on the Sweetwater Historical Museum Foundation Board. Our museum director was actually looking at events that happened in 2025, and he realized that it was the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of Nellie Tayloe Ross, the first woman governor of Wyoming, and of course in the United States. He said we should write a proclamation to celebrate that.
And I said, “I teach senior government. Could my students possibly do that? You know, take the lead?” And they were like, “Awesome.”
So I brought it back to my class and I just said, “Hey guys, this important anniversary is coming up.” I kind of just explained what a proclamation is – a day you get to celebrate and honor something, the governor will sign it and it just goes down as an important day in history to be celebrated. [I asked my class,] “Would you guys like to be a part of this?” They were such good sports this year and said, “Of course.”
Keegan Gailey: Me personally, I was a little iffy about whether it would fail or if it would pass, because in my mind, like, learning about senior government and the whole government system, little people, we get a little bit of a voice, but we don't get to make holidays and stuff like that.
Elena Apperson: I was also pretty iffy at first because my class, we're not as serious, I would say. We can be, but I didn't know how my class would do. So Ms. Nielsen had us all take a few minutes, do a lot of research and we each wrote one “whereas” statement with what we thought was the most important and needed to be recognized.
KG: I personally thought it was really amazing just how many walls she broke for women. At that time, a woman being the governor was just completely unheard of, and she didn't care. She just went and ran ahead with it.
EA: I felt that it was really amazing to see that a woman could do so much in that time. Never once did it mention that she could have been scared or nervous about anything. I feel like nowadays, you just hear about how scary it can be to do things as a woman. That holds such value and power.
Then Ms. Nielsen took all the “whereas” statements, fixed them up a little, and then she presented it to the class and asked if we wanted to make any changes or we felt something was missing. That's how the proclamation came to be.
KG: We had the governor actually come and sign and show us the proclamation. We all shook hands with the governor. It was really amazing.
EA: I will say, though, it was really emotional. I did start crying a few times. And seeing what we did as a class.
KG: I personally think it's a big step forward just for my career in general. It's the first time in my life that I've truly been treated like an adult. It just made me feel like I can actually do things in this world. I can think, “This Sunday [Jan. 5] is our holiday.” It's something that I put forward. I think that's just really good and really groundbreaking for me.
EA: I've always kind of been interested in government, but I never felt I could do it or it was something for me. But being able to really be a part of it shows me that maybe I could be.
