Wyoming's Approaches to Career Education -- February is Career Education Month.

February has been declared Career Education Month for High School Students across the nation.

I am proud that my son-in-law, Bill Pannell, of Cheyenne Wyomng is connected with career and vocational education in Wyoming.  As WDE Career Cluster Coordinator, Bill was part of the team that developed Wyoming's Career Cluster Guides for use by students in Wyoming when determining career directions.

These guides list the top occupations in Wyoming by Career Cluster, as well as the education opportunities available at Wyoming community colleges and the University of Wyoming .  These guides are the product of a multi-agency effort to educate Wyoming 's young people about opportunities available in Wyoming.  This winter, the Guides, along with high school planners were distributed for use by 8th - 12th grade students across the state.

 "The Career Cluster Guides were developed to address the question ‘what are we doing to keep Wyoming 's young people in Wyoming and attend to Wyoming 's Workforce needs?'"  Bill Pannell, WDE Career Cluster Coordinator, said iin a press release from the Wyoming Department of Education. "The development of this project has enjoyed significant interagency collaboration and support."

 The press release continued:

"Agency leaders on the project were Jacques Robertson with DWS, Kelly Schramm with WCCC, Pete Reiss with WBC, Jo Chytka with UW and Pannell.

The U.S. Department of Education Career Clusters were used as the framework for these publications. These clusters are broken into 16 distinct categories and defined as:

•         Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
•         Architecture and Construction
•         Arts, Audio/Video Technology and Communications
•         Business, Management and Administration
•         Education and Training
•         Finance
•         Government and Public Administration
•         Health Science
•         Hospitality and Tourism
•         Human Services
•         Information Technology
•         Law, Public Safety and Security
•         Manufacturing
•         Marketing, Sales and Service
•         Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
•         Transportation, Distribution and Logistics

The hope of the Wyoming Workforce Alliance is to, first, educate students as to the actual opportunities available in Wyoming , and, second, to develop student's entrepreneurial skills so that they can start and operate their own businesses.

Thus, the Career Cluster Guides are both a guidance and curricular model. Within each career cluster, there are anywhere from two to seven career pathways. These clusters and associated pathways will provide a common language between secondary education, post-secondary education and workforce agencies in Wyoming for describing and developing education programs.

To view electronic versions of the Career Cluster Guides, visit the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services website "

Best wishes to all students who are planning ahead for their futures and participating in solutions for the labor lag.