TORRINGTON – The Jan. 29, 1948 Torrington Telegram reported the community was “one step closer to a University center here,” after the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees approved an agreement with the then-Goshen County School District No. 3.
From those humble beginnings 70 years ago has grown what’s today known as Eastern Wyoming College. What started in a single building just north of downtown Torrington today serves almost 2,000 students in six eastern Wyoming counties.
“It is significant,” said Dr. Lesley Travers, current EWC president. “Considering there’s only seven community colleges in the state of Wyoming, we are certainly one of the older community colleges.
“When you think about it, it’s a pretty big thing, particularly in little Torrington, Wyoming,” she said. “And when you look at our service area.”
Today, with campuses in Torrington and Douglas, EWC offers a variety of classes and programs to prepare students for post-higher-education employment. Many of the programs at EWC also get students geared up to continue past the associate’s degree level to complete a four-year degree at the University of Wyoming or other colleges around the country.
Rolls have changed
The roll of the community college today has changed. Today, community colleges around the country are considered more than viable options, both as a starting point for students seeking a four-year degree and for students seeking specialized training and education in any of a number of careers.
Don Appiarius, vice-president for student affairs at EWC, calls community colleges one of the last bastions of higher education that works. And, it’s probably the most affordable option for many who want an education but don’t want to incur a crushing debt load.
“Community college is the last type of post-secondary education that’s really affordable,” he said. “There’s kind of a heart-break around higher education in general and the cost of higher education.
“Higher education used to be seen as a gateway to success,” Appiarius said. “It still, I believe, is.”
One trend the nation’s community colleges are facing comes from a call by then President Barrack Obama, who wanted to see fully 60 percent of the population have some type of higher education training by the year 2025. Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead upped the ante, calling for higher education for 62 percent of Wyoming residents.
Community Colleges are uniquely positioned in the academic world to assist in answering that call.
“We’re looking at not only enrolling students, but we’re looking at retaining them and graduating them,” Travers said. “All the colleges, including UW, are on that track – to train adults and get them into training that has meaning.
“When you think about that, if we just graduated high school students and sent them all directly to college, we still wouldn’t reach 62 percent of the population,” she said. “We’re not only serving ‘traditional’ students, now we’re looking at serving ‘non-traditional’ students as well.”
Another advantage to community college in general and EWC specifically is its size, Travers said. She recalled, as a college student just starting out studying psychology, her first lecture class with 800 students. She was sure the professor had no idea who she was.
“The only way I met him was I became a good student and persisted,” she said. “For every one of us who persists, how many didn’t?
“At a big university, how many students do you get to know, particularly with 10,000 students?” Travers said. “That’s the beauty of a community college – we’re very hands-on, very personal and we know our students.”
