In this Year of Wyoming Women, Northwest College associate professor Amy McKinney and her students brought the stories of some of the state’s women to life.

During the fall semester, McKinney and her Women of the West class studied Wyoming women in history, hosting guest presentations on women’s suffrage, women in agriculture and women warriors in Wyoming. McKinney took a special focus on Wyoming women in this course because 2019 marks the 150th anniversary of women’s suffrage. Wyoming was the first state to pass legislation granting women the right to vote.

To wrap up the class, McKinney’s students presented at a culminating public event on Dec. 10 — the exact date when women’s suffrage was signed into law in Wyoming 150 years ago. Through a research grant from the American Heritage Center in Laramie, McKinney gathered archival collections for the students to use for their final presentations.

McKinney said even though the students’ topics weren’t directly tied to suffrage, they still saw how suffrage opened up many opportunities for women in the West.

“That’s something that we spent quite a bit of time on throughout the semester,” McKinney said. “It’s one thing to read about things in a history book, but to actually be able to go through someone’s diaries is important. Students definitely took a personal interest in it, and that was really rewarding to see as a teacher.”

At the final event, participating students presented the collection they selected, and the audience voted for its favorite presentation. Lori Stoppel, a sophomore history major at NWC, was the audience’s top pick. Stoppel’s presentation was centered around Lilian Ethel Boulter and her “life in seasons.” Boulter was a ranch woman from the tiny community of Olson, located about 13 miles southeast of Boulder, Wyoming, in Sublette County. Stoppel was awarded a $150 prize, and each of the other students received a $50 prize.

“For Lori, she said she really enjoyed the chance to read Lilian [Boulter]’s diaries and that she developed a personal connection to her,” McKinney said. “She said it was a privilege to be able to read them. When she was practicing her presentation with her husband the night before the anniversary celebration, she said she cried because she was sad it was over.”

History major Caleb Robertson focused on Grace Thorson Brown and her experience at the Heart Mountain internment camp. Sophomore history major Emma Comstock mainly focused on women in the civil service, and sophomore anthropology major Julia Neff shared the collections from Phyllis Lettelier, a farmer and humorist writer from Greybull.

Although the students each had different topics, McKinney said she enjoyed seeing how they personally connected with their research.

“Archival research is special,” McKinney said. “It’s always rewarding as a teacher to see your students really engage with material. These students definitely did that and that really came out in their presentations. They were excited; they were very good at telling their story.”

McKinney has taught the Women of the West class in the past, but said she had a particularly exceptional group of students this semester.

“The entire class said they enjoyed the project because they liked being able to get a firsthand account that you don’t always get in history books,” McKinney said. “Getting to work with the original documents was a great experience for them and they were thankful for the opportunity to do that kind of research in a class at Northwest College.”

Looking back on the semester, McKinney said she is grateful to have had such dedicated students in her class.

“Being able to work with students is one of the main reasons why I’m at Northwest College,” she said. “The students are what make Northwest College a wonderful place. These students definitely are a reflection of that.”