Eight Wyoming community college students have been selected as the winners of this year’s Shaping Wyoming’s Future Award, including Thea Farrington 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.

Farrington was already a successful professional prior to enrolling at Northwest College in the fall of 2022, owning a high-profile bakery and coffee shop in Minnesota before relocating to Wyoming. She earned her associates degree in psychology last spring when she won the program’s Outstanding Student award, is scheduled to earn her A.A.S. in Digital & Social Media this spring, and is working toward her B.A.S. in Professional Studies, which she expects to complete in 2026.

In addition to a full-time course load, Thea works full-time hours with the college’s food services provider, while running her own business, T and T Consulting Solutions. She is also the founder of Heart to Heart — WY, a registered nonprofit serving youth and young adults living with mental illness, and part of the winning team for the Top Submission Award for a Community College at the 2023 John P. Ellbogen $50K Entrepreneurship Competition. On campus, Thea is active with NWC’s Gay Straight Alliance and leads an American Sign Language group in Powell, all while balancing the needs of her own family at home.

The group of award winners will be honored by the Alliance in a private reception on Friday, Feb. 7 before being recognized during the Joint Legislative Session in Cheyenne. Each student will also receive a scholarship on behalf of the WBA.