SCSD#2 and NWCC Discuss Concurrent Enrollment

On Monday, February 23, the Northwest Community College (NWCC) Board of Trustees and the Sheridan County School District #2 (SCSD#2) Board held a joint meeting to discuss concurrent and dual enrollment and the partnership between SCSD#2 and NWCC.

The meeting was chaired by Elaine Henry, Vice-Chairman of the NWCC board. Opening the meeting was a special recognition by Dr. Walt Tribley, President of NWCC.

He added this about Rebecca Adsit, who was recently chosen as the new Superintendent.

There was a round of applause for Stults and Adsit.

Chairman Henry said the first item on the agenda was the Northern Wyoming Career Pathways partnership. Dr. Tribley said he and Scott Stults had worked on the agenda together, and this agenda was a partnership.

He then turned the floor over to Dr. Estella Castillo-Garrison, Vice President of Academic Affairs at the college, and Kathy Garriffa, Assistant Superintendent at SCSD#2.

Garrison said that the partnership has a new name now, Northern Wyoming Career Pathways Partnership. She said they are really excited about the work they have been doing. She commented on how everyone involved come together to discuss work-based learning.

She also talked about some upcoming events that were a part of the partnership.

“There are a lot of great things happening,” Garrison said.

Superitendent Stults added that he would like to add to what Garrison said,

SCSD#2 Trustee Michael Lansing asked which community partners were involved with the concurrent enrollment.

Tribley talked about some of the partners in Sheridan.

Estelle said the partnerships were very successful, and Tribley added that many students may not graduate because they didn’t want to spend their senior year in the classroom, taking an English class, and these partnerships help to fill the need of those students.

NWCC Trustee Wade Cotton said this about the partnership and internships.

One question that was asked was if the credits earned could be transferred to other institutions, and Robert Briggs Associate Vice President of Planning, Research at NWCC, added that the success rate was fairly high, around 84%.

NWCC Trustee Tom Ringley had this comment near the end of the meeting,

One item that was pointed out was the fact the concurrent and dual enrollment saves the student and their family money, as opposed to just enrolling in the college.

Tribley also talked about their four year program that they are very proud of, and that they have around 50 students enrolled in that.