CTE students successful even as number declines

CHEYENNE (WNE) – The number of Wyoming secondary and post-secondary students concentrated in career and technical fields is lower than in the past. But the students who are in those fields exceed attainment and performance targets set by the state, according to annual data presented Thursday to the Wyoming State Board of Education. 

The reports are in compliance with the federal Carl Perkins Act, which supports career and technical education programs across the country. John Bole, the Wyoming Department of Education’s school support director, presented figures pulled from 2017-18 Carl Perkins secondary and post-secondary schools reports. 

The reports reveal a drop in the number of high school students who are considered CTE concentrators – or students who have completed three or more classes in a CTE program. Those students are the most likely to go on to CTE fields as a career. In 2017-18, there were 3,545 CTE concentrators across the state, compared with 4,377 in 2011-12.  

But while the number of high school students concentrated in CTE programs has fallen, the number of students participating in at least one CTE course has increased significantly in past years. In 2017-18, there were 17,432 CTE participants, compared to 15,311 in 2011-12. 

When it comes to assessments, high school CTE concentrators are doing better than they have in the past. More than 74 percent of concentrators passed technical skills assessments in 2017-18, compared with 71.11 passing in 2011-12. 

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Fisherman gets stuck in ice on Fremont Lake

PINEDALE (WNE) – A  man who walked out onto frozen Fremont Lake for some ice-fishing Sunday morning caught his waterproof boot in a hole or crack in the ice and fell half-seated into the frigid water. 

The Pinedale man, who says he has “been out there a thousand times,” asked that his name not be used because he “would never hear the end of it” from his friends. 

Earlier, he had parked at the boat dock and pulled his ice-fishing gear on a sled to a spot about 200 yards from shore where he drilled several fishing holes with his augur. He said the lake’s layers were kind of strange but safe. Six to 8 inches of new snow covered a 1 inch thick layer of ice, then about 5 inches of water on 10 inches of solid ice, he explained. 

He was walking back to his sled to put his augur away when his foot jammed into a crevice, crack or possibly another fisherman’s drilled hole that was freezing over. 

Whatever it was, it wasn’t visible, he said, and as his leg went down into the water, he fell against the augur and half-sat down. He was wearing waterproof Muck boots but he got soaked sitting there. 

For a change, no one else was fishing and after he worked away to free his foot for 15 or 20 minutes, he started worrying that no one knew he was out there. At that point, he grabbed his cell phone and called “911.” 

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Enrollment numbers grow by 12 percent at Gillette College

GILLETTE (WNE) — Enrollments at Gillette College in the first month of the spring semester continue to grow compared to a year ago.

Part of that growth in the 2018-19 school year has helped save Gillette area parents almost $500,000 in college tuition costs for their high school-aged children earning college credits.

Micah Olsen, director of admission services, said 1,616 students are enrolled so far this spring, with 914 of them taking a full-time equivalent of at least 16 credit hours.

That’s a growth of 12.6 percent in headcount from the same time a year ago, he told the college’s Advisory Board on Wednesday afternoon. The headcount 30 days into spring 2018 was 1,409 students and 918 FTE, and that was a 34 percent increase compared to spring 2017 when 1,049 students were enrolled and 863 FTE.

The full time equivalent number is actually “a whisper” less than a year ago at this point in the spring semester, Olsen said. But the counting is not complete, he added.
That increased headcount also includes more high school students involved in taking classes at the college, called dual enrollment, this year. In fact, the number of dual enrollment students is the highest it has been since fall 2015 when machine tool classes were offered at the high school.

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Woman receives jail time for provoking police shooting

LARAMIE (WNE) — A woman who was shot by police officers after a provocation in Vedauwoo last year was sentenced to 45 days in jail Thursday morning.

Deborah Hanson pleaded no contest to two counts of reckless endangering that stemmed from an incident on May 26. Judge Robert Castor sentenced Hanson to 45 days in jail, two years probation with a suspended sentence of two years jail time.

Her sentence also requires mental health counseling, and her jail term could be reduced pursuant to current counseling the woman's already seeking.

At about 11 p.m. on May 26, Albany County Sheriff’s Deputy Ed Rosier and Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Rick Colling were dispatched after receiving a report of an intoxicated woman — Deborah Hanson — who was driving a pick-up to Vedauwoo and had a gun.

When Colling found Hanson’s pick-up, he initiated a traffic stop.

He approached the driver’s side door and found Hanson, who was holding a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol.

Hanson “continued to place the gun to her head, the side of her head, in her mouth, under her chin while standing on the roadway,” according to an affidavit from DCI special agent Len Propps.

After a standoff, Hanson pointed her loaded gun at both officers, who fired their weapons and struck the woman.

Both officers were placed on administrative leave after the shooting.

Despite receiving gunshot wounds to her shoulder, left arm, abdomen and right hand, Hanson lived. She tested positive for alcohol, THC, amphetamines and benzodiazepines.