Wyoming Business Council Hosts “Shaping Wyoming’s Future: A UW Student Panel”

Laramie, Wyo — More than 100 people, including local business leaders, legislators, educators, state partners, and UW students, attended the “Shaping Wyoming’s Future: A UW Student Panel” on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at the University of Wyoming (UW) College of Business. The event offered a forum for local and state decision-makers to hear from and engage firsthand with UW students.

A four-person, UW student-led panel included Gwen Hargett, a political science and international studies major; Ralph Fawaz in the MBA graduate program; Korbin DeWtt, an entrepreneurship student; and Daljit Kaur, an accounting and economics major. These four dynamic students shared their personal stories of why they are in Wyoming and their visions for their futures.

The Wyoming Business Council (WBC) worked closely with these motivated college students to understand what factors contribute to their decision-making about where to spend their future. WBC CEO Josh Dorrell facilitated the conversation and engaged the audience to dig deeper into the most important factors determining where young people live and work, how accessible internship and job opportunities are in the state, and how they engage in decision-making and community initiatives.

Throughout the hour-and-a-half panel, students shared insights ranging from how Wyoming is a great place to start and grow a business to many acknowledging that Wyoming towns lack “third spaces” or cultural amenities like theatres, bookstores, cafes, and more where people form community outside of work and home. Before the event, over 260 UW students also participated in an online survey asking questions about their future plans and how things like pay, opportunities for job growth, quality of life, and social interactions shape where they want to build their lives. This data is still being analyzed and will be available at a future date.

“The University of Wyoming has taught me to recognize and use the opportunities around you,” said panelist Daljit Kaur. “My dad was able to see the opportunity here in rural Wyoming to grow and build a business, and we are still a state where hard work and taking a chance on your ideas can pay off.”

When discussing whether pay was a determining factor in staying in Wyoming, several students mentioned it as high on their needs list but interestingly not as high as on the perceived list shared by nonstudents in the audience. 

“One of the things we need to understand is that there is not one item that is the deciding factor on whether UW graduates and other young people stay or leave Wyoming,” said Josh Dorrell. “We need to continue asking the important questions, listening to understand, and engaging in the work with leaders and stakeholders across Wyoming to ensure the next generation has opportunities to grow and thrive.”

“To have a thriving economy, we need young people to want to stay and work in Wyoming. The power of this event was hearing directly from Wyoming youth about their priorities and recognizing some of the misperceptions we have as adults and ‘decision-makers’,” shared WBC Chief Strategy Officer Sarah Fitz-Gerald. “This discrepancy emphasizes how important events like this are and how critical it is that we continue communicating and bringing different constituencies to the table to address the big challenges facing our state.”

A full recording of the panel is available on the WBC’s YouTube channel at wbc.pub/WY_Future_Sept92024. The WBC welcomes anyone interested in connecting to learn more and engage around additional problem-solving to reach out to the WBC team via Amy Quick, Strategic Communications, at [email protected].