ROCK SPRINGS – After a few years of lower application numbers, Western Wyoming Community College’s nursing program applications have bounced back in 2024.
“We have 120 applicants for our program,” Heidi Brown, the director of nursing said.
She believes the drop in applications was a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While there are 120 applicants to the program, she said only 40 are accepted. She said applicants may get rejected if they don’t have the proper coursework completed prior to admission, and must meet other qualifications for acceptance.
Brown’s comments were part of a report she submitted to the college’s board of trustees Thursday night. Between 2021 and 2023, the program had a 87% completion rate, with Western’s first time pass rate being 97% for the state and national licensing exams. The school also has a 100% pass rate for all test takers in 2021, which the report states is the result of one student not passing their first test, but passing the second.
Additionally, the college’s employment rate is 100% through a survey of students, with 49% responding to that survey. The faculty network can verify an 86% employment rate with graduates. Graduates are also being tracked to see how many are leaving Wyoming and Western’s School of Health Sciences has discovered most are staying. The report states community colleges on the eastern side of the state are seeing most of their nursing graduates leave Wyoming.
Renovations at Snowy
In board actions, the board of trustees approved a request to bid a plumbing renovation project at Snowy Range Residence Hall. According to Burt Reynolds, the vice president for administrative services at the college, some of the sewer pipes in the building’s wall had completely eroded and because of how the pipes are installed throughout the dormitory, similar problems are expected to happen if the pipes aren’t replaced.
The project is estimated to cost approximately $700,000 and Reynolds said it could be completed by August, though the college can shuffle students around if the work takes longer. The board approved the request to bid the project unanimously, with Board President Jim Jessen abstaining from the vote.
