The University of Wyoming is in Laramie, Wyoming which is also a prime location for outdoor activities. It sits at the foot of the Snowy Range Mountains and on the border of Colorado as well as being only fifteen minutes away from Veedauwoo, a famous bouldering and crack climbing site.
The university also started using the slogan “The World Needs More Cowboys” around two years ago. The two work together well to recruit new students.
The Outdoor Program at work
Garrett Genereux is one of the outdoor program coordinators for the University of Wyoming. He is responsible for helping to schedule outdoor programs for all skill and comfort levels and staffing the events.
“I work with Amanda Harper who is the other coordinator, we set policies procedures, risk management and we train the staff,” said Genereux.” “Harper works with the rental staff and I work with the climbing staff.”
Genereux and Harper also make the schedule, train their stuff and sometimes instruct in the field.
The Outdoor Program offers a lot both in its outdoor programs and in the rental center. The rental center offers a wide variety of equipment including bikes, fat bikes, bouldering equipment and skis.
There is also a workbench for bike and ski maintenance. All of this to say that the outdoor program is prepared for almost any experience craving a student from in or out of state may desire.
Getting a head start
One of the notable things that the outdoor program does for incoming students is offer outdoor activities during the Summer that are specifically for incoming first year students.
The programs help students to get to know each other and what Laramie and the Outdoor Program have to offer.
“A big thing we do in the Summer is offer programming to incoming first year students.So we do a batch of those in June and another set right before the semester starts in August,” said Genereux.
Genereux also stated that out of last year’s class of 650 freshmen around one hundred students attended at least one Summer programs offered to them.
Never stop selling
Genereux says that the increasing participation can also be attributed to the hard work of his partner Amanda Harper who handles the Outdoor Programs social media.
In regards to attendance and promotion Genereux mentioned proximity as an advantage that the university’s Outdoor Program has.
“We’re lucky here in Laramie I think, I would say at least eighty percent of our programming happens within an hour of Laramie,” said Genereux.
He added that there are some out of state trips to Colorado and Utah and a canoeing trip on the opposite side of the Snowy Range that take place more than an hour away.
There are sixty to eighty outdoor programs a semester.
The University of Wyoming has been using a campaign titled “The World Needs More Cowboys”. The slogan references the University’s mascot and local history. The slogan also can be helpful to get students into the outdoors.
Genereux could not speak to statistics regarding interest in the Outdoor Program before and after the campaign started but he did say that one program has had an increase in participation.
“One program specifically that we have had better numbers Fall and Spring in is our horsemanship program,” Genereux said.
Out of state students weigh in
The university of course plans its campaigning around the satisfaction of its students. Thomas is a sophomore from Hawaii. He says that the outdoor activities available locally were attractive when he looked for places to go to college.
“Surely, to a small degree yes, Wyoming’s scenery and locales to ski, hike and so on are attractive,” Thomas said.
Thomas said that “The World Needs More Cowboys” campaign was not a factor in his decision to attend school in Laramie, Wyo.
Some students also appreciate the location of Laramie for their career instead of what they can do in their free time.
Junior Brayden Wirick is an anthropology major who moved to Laramie because it’s outdoor surroundings are a good location for him to study and possibly have a career.
Wirick is originally from Delta Junction, Alaska before attending college in Riverton, Wyoming and then in Laramie.
Wirick said that the Outdoor program and possible outdoor activities did not influence his move but that land laws did.
“…The location of Laramie played a role because of the anthropology opportunities.” Wirick said. “There is more Government owned land than private land like farther out west, so anthropology surveys have to be done before land is privatized which opens up more anthropology opportunities.”
Wirick did not have strong feeling about “The World Needs More Cowboys” slogan and did not think it played a factor in whether or not he attended the University.
“I like it, I’ve always liked Westerns. It obviously carries different meanings for different people, but for me it’s a good meaning,” said Wirick.
The marketing program could not be reached for comment on “The World Needs More Cowboys Campaign”.
Here are some more links to learn about the university’s marketing campaign and what the Outdoor Program has to offer: http://www.uwyo.edu/rec/outdoor-program/index.htmlhttps://www.uwyo.edu/cowboys/
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