The first step

L
ast week representatives from the University of Wyoming came to Weston County to promote the school and communication between the county, its people and
the university. 
This community outreach began with UW’s Strategic Plan, Breaking Through: 2017-2022 and the creation of the Office of Engagement and Outreach. Directing the new office is Dr. Jean A. Garrison and her goal is to be a “portal of access to the university for the citizens of Wyoming and to coordinate and streamline engagement and outreach efforts to achieve enhanced consistency, follow-through and impact,” according to the
university’s website. 
The campaign’s focus of the school has become “The world needs more cowboys… and so does Wyoming,” a campaign that features pillars in every Wyoming county, and the Wind River Reservation, that are also UW alumni. Weston County’s representative was Wyoming Refining Company Vice President Mike Farnsworth who highlighted through the campaign on not only promoting UW, but also Newcastle and the Weston
County community. 
Farnsworth said that while he was honored to be selected for the campaign he feels that there are at least 30 others in the Weston County community that could have been selected. He recognized that he owes his career to the University and what the
school offers. 
The full day of events included the representatives from UW giving presentations, along with current UW seniors, at both Newcastle and Upton High Schools, encouraging the juniors and seniors to explore all of their options and embrace all the resources not only at UW ,but to consider what other community colleges across the state have to offer. 
We believe this engagement with the schools and the community is a great first step in accomplishing the university’s goal to “improve and enhance the health and well-being of our communities and environments through outreach programs and in collaboration with our constituents and partners.” 
But, we want to remain adamant that the effort is exactly that, a first step and that Dr. Garrison and Acting President Neil Theobald need to remain vigilant in continuing the communication between all Wyoming communities and “Wyoming’s sole land-grant and public flagship institution.”
Theobald put it well when he said that his goal, and the focus of all educators in Wyoming, is the success of our students and creating successful adults to continue the advancement of the Wyoming economy. This goal would not be achievable without the university and the several community colleges throughout the state which Garrison admitted were relied on as “the windows into the local high schools.” 
There is a need to remove the “castle on the hill” feel from the university, as Weston County Fairgrounds manager Kara Fladstol said during a lunch meeting with Theobald and Garrison, and for the university to connect directly with Wyoming’s high school students instead of relying on the community colleges to bridge that gap. 
We look forward to seeing what the staff at the University of Wyoming comes up with to move forward in bridging the communication gap that they admit has been a challenge previously. 
We hope to see more of their staff and educators come to the community, just like Lecturer Rachel Watson with the Department of Molecular Biology at the university did last week while in town. She and some of her students went to Newcastle Middle School to work with Jody McCormack’s science classes throughout the day. 
We look forward to doing our part here at the News Letter Journal to foster this relationship between the community and the university and hope others will embrace this positive venture with us.