The new Northern Wyoming Community College District president is touring Northeast Wyoming to learn more about community needs.
District President Walter Tribley will be visiting Kaycee, Big Horn and Wright over the next couple of weeks to connect with more residents in the district’s service area.
Tribley, who began his position in July, said he wants to focus on getting to know smaller communities outside of the regional hubs to learn more about what people need and how that connects to the college.
“It's not so much ‘Hey, I wish you did this, or I wish you did that,’ it’s more of a connection, What is the direction of the college? What are your needs in the community? This is what we’re currently doing, this is what we’re planning on doing, What do you think? What’s on the horizon?” he said.
Tribley said he’ll also use the meeting to share information about the district and opportunities benefit communities that are farther away from the district’s main and extension campuses.
“I provide some information about the college, I talk about some of these directions like bringing on four-year degrees in the future, some of the things we are working on. I do share my focus is on student success and building our infrastructure to serve more students as best as we possibly can,” he said.
Tribley said the campuses are also working on making more classes available in the evenings. The district provides opportunities for dual-enrollment for high school students, so they can get college credit for classes. Tribley said he sees regional high schools as extensions of the brick-and-mortar campuses.
“We have the opportunity to offer courses in the high school through concurrent enrollment or for those high schools or for those high school students to interact. If they are too far from one of our physical campuses, they are still able to interact in a hybrid-learning mode or through fully online courses,” he said.
The event in Kaycee will be held on Oct. 29 from 5:00-6:00 p.m. at Kaycee High School. Tribley will be at Big Horn High School on Nov. 4 at 5:30 p.m., and at Wright Junior/Senior High School on Nov. 5, from 5:00-6:00 p.m. All meetings are open to the public.
Have a question about this story? Contact the reporter, Catherine Wheeler, at cwheel11@uwyo.edu.