This has been a stellar year for Northwest College, and we believe the 2014-15 school year will go down in history as one of its best. 

As we anticipate NWC commencement exercises on Saturday, we find ourselves contemplating the extraordinary successes experienced at the college this year. 

Among them:

• The new NWC Yellowstone Building opened in the fall, providing needed classroom space and technical advancements for programs such as nursing, criminal justice, forensics and humanities. The building also provides needed meeting space for college and community meetings and presentations. 

This year, Northwest College sports programs experienced successes previously only dreamed of. 

• The NWC men’s basketball team hosted the Region IX tournament for the first time ever — and won it — before making it to the quarterfinal round of the NJCAA Division I Men’s National Basketball Championship. 

In addition, Chris Boucher, a talented sophomore from Canada, was named an All-American and Player of the Year, both for Region IX and Division I of the NJCAA. 

• Northwest College also won the Region IX championship in volleyball, then finished fourth in the nation at the NJCAA Division 1 national tournament. Aleksandra Djordjevic, a freshman from Serbia, earned the title of Region IX Hitter and Player of the Year and Division I All-American. Trappers head coach Shaun Pohlman was also named West Region Coach of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

• This year, also for the first time ever, a NWC roping team finished regionals as the top collegiate roping team in the country. That team, Shawn Bird and Zach Schweigert, will represent Northwest in the College National Finals Rodeo in June along with three other teammates. 

Several academic and extracurricular programs racked up impressive achievements as well. For example:

• The Northwest College art and graphic design program earned national accreditation this year from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, making it one of only seven junior college art programs that are nationally accredited. 

• The NWC forensics team ended its 2014-15 season with several national honors. Those included gold medals in overall debate sweepstakes and overall combined sweepstakes in the college’s division for the Phi Rho Pi Nationals, one of the largest tournaments in the nation. 

Particularly notable were parliamentary debate partners Carter Reed of Cody and Sean Myers of Powell, who posted a perfect record at the tournament to claim gold.

Forensic coaches also earned distinctions. 

• Coach Bob Becker received the Collie-Taylor Coach Fellowship Award, given to the outstanding coach at the national tournament.

• Coach and program director Duane Fish, who is retiring this year, was re-elected tournament director for three more years.

• At the National Parliamentary Debate Association’s national tournament, Reed and Myers earned fifth place and Coach Jeannie Hunt was awarded the Sisters and Allies Against Inequality in Debate Award. The award recognized her work to encourage active participation and inclusion for individuals from any part of the social spectrum, and to welcome them into the field of debate.

• In September, Allan Childs, a professor of chemistry and mathematics at Northwest, was named the STEM educator for the postsecondary category by the Wyoming Department of Education. The award recognized him as an outstanding science educator, honoring not only his teaching, but also his work in advising and mentoring students and his involvement on campus.

• The NWC music program continues to excel. Once again, the Jazz Band I and Studio Singers earned high marks in the annual Jazz Festival at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado.

• Craig Satterlee, an associate professor of photography at Northwest College, won honorable mention in a mobile photography awards competition for his iPhone photo, “Dad’s truck.” The NWC photography program was ranked eighth in the nation last year by one online service.  

• Remodeling of the NWC Intercultural Center recently was completed, and the center will open this fall. It will offer intercultural programming opportunities and will provide housing for a visiting fellow from Japan.  

Perhaps the most welcome change at Northwest College this year is a growing climate of cooperation at the college, thanks largely to the leadership of NWC President Stefani Hicswa. That was illustrated by a significant increase in employee satisfaction in a survey earlier this year. 

Hicswa also has a growing stature on the national collegiate scene. She was a featured speaker at the American Association of Community Colleges’ annual conference and the American Association for Women in Community Colleges CEO retreat in Stevensville, Maryland.  

As the school year draws to a close, we congratulate everyone at Northwest for a spectacular year, and we encourage those who remain to continue steering the institution in the positive direction it has taken this year.