Northwest College could soon be the first college in the state to offer a program to train future ski resort workers. 

Last week, the board approved two new programs for NWC, including a 25-credit certificate program that aims to train students to handle many different positions, and eventually move into management, at a ski hill, as well as a CDL certificate program for credit.

The Ski Area Operations certificate program grew out of Wyoming Innovative Partnership Funding, said Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs Dave Erickson, and is a response to multiple surveys sent out to the community and industries asking what skills they need in future employees. 

A recent labor market analysis performed in May 2024 by Hanover Research for Northwest College focused on Outdoor Education and Leadership found there are not enough graduates from ski patrol in the area and there’s a projected annual growth in the jobs of 1.3% and 10-year growth of 1.5%. 

“The program came from requests made to us,” said Keith McCallister, who will teach many of the classes within his outdoor recreation department. “Initially Sleeping Giant was looking for ski patrol, then it's kind of blossomed from there.”

Now, with Sleeping Giant closed, it’s Antelope Butte ski area in the Bighorns that is excited to work closely with the college program. McCallister said the general manager at the community ski area is “100% on board” and some of the classes will actually be taught by adjunct instructors who work at the ski area. 

And, as a program dedicated to training people to work with skiers and snowboarders, it shouldn’t be a surprise that, as Marnee Crawford, director of Nursing; chairperson for Health Professions Division, said, there is only one true lecture course in the program.

“The rest is field, or field/lecture hybrid,” she said. “It really is a hands-on program.”

And when students achieve the certificate, they’ll have other certificates to go along with it, such as being certified ski patrol. 

NWC President Lisa Watson, who said she grew up skiing often, is thrilled with the proposed program and how it could provide future management for ski operations. 

“Trying to bring somebody on that has a broader view, I think this is genius,” she said. “This is a nice way to give a well rounded introduction of what this industry is all about.”

CDL for credit

The CDL program is meant to be an expansion of the college’s popular noncredit CDL certificate program. 

NWC Center for Training and Development Administrator Christi Greaham said the new program, which aims to provide degree seeking students an incentive to add the CDL certificate to their studies, will be complementary with the existing program, which is used mainly by businesses looking to get employees trained to drive trucks. 

“We’re responding to student needs,” Watson said. 

Next steps

The programs will now be forwarded to the state community college vice president’s group, which will review the packets, before the Community College Commission takes a look, and then the president’s group.

Erickson was hopeful the programs would be before the full commission in April for full approval.