Dear Superintendents,

We are excited to celebrate Hathaway Day on November 16. Governor Mead will sign a proclamation commemorating the tenth year of the Hathaway Scholarship Program on November 9in Cheyenne. The ceremony is open to the public an we would love to see you there!

Hathaway Day gives us the ideal opportunity to unveil a makeover to the look and feel of the program. An ongoing goal of our Hathaway staff at WDE has been to educate students and families about the Hathaway Scholarship opportunity before students are in high school. We think we’ve hit on some pretty exciting ways to do this!

Most notably, 6th graders can receive the Hathaway Scholarship Certificate. This simple change has great potential. In particular, we are interested in reframing the Hathaway conversation from, “You can only earn the Hathaway Scholarship by doing x, y, and z…” to “All students are awarded the scholarship today (6th grade). By continuing to do your best, when you graduate from a Wyoming high school and complete the success curriculum, this certificate turns into actual dollars that can be used at any Wyoming college or the University. We want to support you in your journey to turn this certificate into money for college.”

In addition to the 6th grade certificate template, we also included posters, worksheets, and other resources. All are attached to the memo below. We intend for Hathaway Day to be an annual event that grows each year!

Over the past year, the WDE has engaged stakeholders in discussions about how to improve the Hathaway Scholarship program requirements. Suggestions were presented recently to the Joint Education Committee and ranged from improved access to the scholarship by CTE students to a new, advanced tier. No decisions were made at the meeting. I’ll continue to advocate for changes that accommodate our CTE concentrators and trades-bound students better.

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This week, a team from Wyoming and out-of-state visitors traveled to several schools and communities to see CTE programs and career pathways. It was an absolute thrill to have Wyoming schools showcase their programs, partnerships, teachers, and students. Thank you for welcoming us into your schools! A few takeaways:

  • The most renowned schools of innovation in the U.S. have nothing on us in Wyoming.  
  • The “right people on the bus going the same direction” is key.
  • Challenges are overcome with persistence and a stubborn aversion to the word, “no.”
  • Scaling career pathways across the state, especially in remote areas, is still a challenge.
  • Schools are taking advantage of Perkins dollars and state demo grants.
  • The WDE can support this type innovation even better (percolating).
  • We didn’t see any coding or computer science pathways and I’d like to see more.
  • Great physical space is, well, great, but not necessary to creating pathway programs for students.

I anticipate our out-of-state visitors will be talking about Wyoming for months. I look forward to the follow-up conversations. Thank you again for the great week!

Students from Rawlins High School stand in a home they are constructing and describe the project to State Superintendent Jillian Balow and CCSSO Executive Director Chris Minnich.

Home construction site in Rawlins–students explaining their work and progress

Memos to be released Monday, November 7:

Jillian

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