Eight Wyoming community college students have been selected as the winners of this year’s Shaping Wyoming’s Future Award, including Jacob Wells of Northwest College. The award presented by the Wyoming Business Alliance recognizes one student from each of the state’s community colleges for the ways they’ve transformed their lives through the Wyoming community colleges system, and how their efforts and participation in their communities are shaping the state’s future.
The group of award winners will be honored by the Alliance in a private reception on February 12, before being recognized during the Joint Legislative Session on February 13 in Cheyenne. Each student will also receive a scholarship award on behalf of the WBA.
A native of Encampment, Wyoming, Wells originally attended Northwest College on a wrestling scholarship from 2014-15 before leaving school to join the military. Upon completing his service in the United States Army, Jacob later returned to NWC in the spring of 2022 to continue his education, fulfilling a promise he had made seven years earlier. He is now vice president of the NWC Criminal Justice Club and actively assists with fundraising and membership efforts.
Wells also works part-time as a member of the campus security team, assists the faculty in firearms classes and regularly represents the college at law enforcement functions. He often serves as a mentor for other students in the NWC criminal justice program and is known for his calm and relaxing demeanor, exhibiting all the qualities a community seeks in a law enforcement officer. He is already being recruited by several agencies as he works toward his bachelor’s degree, which he is expected to complete in the spring of 2025.
In addition to Wells, others being recognized are Dash Lloyd, Casper College; Brian Roanhorse, Central Wyoming College; Carly Keller, Eastern Wyoming College; Nyah Parker, Gillette College; Lilly Navarro, Laramie County Community College; Landry May, Sheridan College; and Dalton Stoddard, Western Wyoming College.