Voices in the Field

March 31, 2022

5-3 — Wind River student Isaac Gardner did a practice teaching session as part of the "Voices in the Field" conference at Central Wyoming College - he presented to fellow students and to Teacher's Uncensored presenters Leslie Rush, Colleen Bartlett, James Learned and Elizabeth Clowder (h/t Randy Tucker)

(Riverton, WY) – Students from Wind River High School along with other students from Big Piney and Laramie attended a “Voices in the Field” conference at Central Wyoming College on Thursday.

The conference, organized by Wind River High School English teachers Ryan Sennet and Malinda Garcia-Clapp and Karissa Milward 3rd grade ELA teacher, has been held for the last five years with the purpose of introducing students to prospective academic and vocational careers through interaction with professionals in both areas.

Megan Candelaria presented a session on Wyoming to the Moon (h/t Randy Tucker)

This is conference was tied to a class at Wind River and is part of the Senior Capstone experience.

“This class encourages students to seek answers to authentic research questions through cycles of service learning and reflection within respective fields of interest: primary and secondary research, interviews with professionals, lectures with experts in the field, job shadowing, career observations, critical internships, and more,” Garcia-Clapp said.

Sergeant First Class Brandon Tabor presented information on the University of Wyoming ROTC program (h/t Randy Tucker)

Getting students exposed to the diverse offerings the adult world has waiting for them is difficult in isolate, rural, Wyoming. In an “If you can’t take Mohammed to the mountain, take the mountain to Mohammed” plan, instead of having the students seek out these career opportunities, the opportunities were brought to the students.

Wind River High School English teacher Malinda Garcia-Clapp along with fellow English teacher Ryan Sennet and Karissa Milward 3rd grade ELA teacher organized the fifth annual “Voices in the Field” conference at CWC Thursday – (h/t Randy Tucker)

“In particular, we have seen an outpouring of support for our “Voices in the Field Conference,” which brings together both professors and professionals from around Wyoming to engage in breakout sessions with our students,” Garcia-Clapp said. “Even when COVID pushed the conference online, we were fortunate to have many partners/stakeholders host virtual sessions for not only our students, but any students in Fremont County interested in attending.”

The all-day conference held at the Fine Arts Building, the Intertribal Center and the Health Science Center featured 30 different speakers, or presentations in 30 breakout session, spread across five sessions.

Wind River student Blake Snyder read a question to the Teacher’s Uncensored Panel (h/t Randy Tucker)

Marlin Spoonhunter, president of the Wind River Tribal College was the keynote speaker with his daughter Dr. Tarissa Spoonhunter who is a professor of indigenous studies.