ROCK SPRINGS — When school was no longer in session due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, teachers were left figuring out how to meet the students’ needs through technology.
Jennifer Wilmetti, Rock Springs High School social studies department chair, said she and the other government teachers wanted to ensure their students still had the chance to meet with guest speakers as part of their curriculum.
With this in mind, Wilmetti used her previous Leadership Wyoming Program experience to reach out and see what programs they might have available for students to participate in.
Wilmetti said she has always been looking for ways to have the youth more involved in what’s happening around the state. When she heard the Wyoming Leadership program called Wyoming Youth Connection was going to start hosting speakers via Zoom, she jumped at the opportunity.
Mandy Fabel, Wyoming Leadership executive director, said she and one of her Jackson friends were talking about how terrible it was on high school and college students who couldn’t go back to school due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.
“We decided to create a lecture series aimed at them (for) access to frontline information and leaders,” Fabel said.
Over the course of eight weeks, Wilmetti and RSHS government teachers, Liz Sedey, Heidi Rubich, Jake Murcray, Levi Stephens and Amberlee Beardsley, provided their students with access to this lecture series so they could meet virtually with state and local officials.
Some of those the students had the chance to interact with included, Governor Mark Gordon, Dr. Brian Gee, Dr. Ali Harrist, Wyoming Epidemiologist, Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow and Olympic Gold Medalist Bryan Clay, U.S. Senator John Barrasso, US. Representative Liz Cheney, former MLB Baseball player Josh Kalinowski, Wyoming Department of Corrections represetative Julie Tennant-Caine, Rock Springs Mayor Timothy Kaumo, Representative John Freeman, Sweetwater County School District No. 1 Superintendent Kelly McGovern, District No. 1 Trustee Max Mickelson, and Sweetwater County Attorney Daniel Erramouspe.
“We did partner with the Wyoming Department of Education for a few weeks on national level speakers,” Fabel said.
During some of the national speakers presentations, more than 370 students from across the state were watching the videos. Wilmetti said the students couldn’t believe how easy it was to access national, state and local leaders.
“The transition to digital is probably more difficult for the adult presenters than it is for the youth,” Fabel said. “If anything, it is a way to gain additional access for these youth to ask questions and gain insights.”
While most students had access to the live videos and could ask questions, others had other classes meeting at those times or other responsibilities. For those students, Wilmetti said they could go back and watch the recorded video at their convenience.
For Wilmetti and the other RSHS teachers, this wasn’t only a learning experience for the students, but them.
“They would not have had the opportunity to do it without the online platform,” Wilmetti said. “It kind of opened up our eyes that maybe this is something we could do more frequently.”
Wilmetti said the teachers are looking at this as another way to provide students with guest speakers who wouldn’t have to visit the school.
Usually, a school visit requires the guest speaker to commit to at least two days at the school. This could provide the students with more learning opportunities, she said.
