Climb Wyoming partners with school district to train 11 teacher aides

GILLETTE (WNE) — The Campbell County School District has brought in 11 low-income mothers for job training as teaching assistants this semester through a partnership with Climb Wyoming.

While trainees aren’t guaranteed employment with the school district, the program is structured to prepare them to apply for the district’s open positions.

“The principals have been extremely welcoming and open and excited to have this opportunity,” Brandon Crosby, Director of Curriculum, Assessment and Professional Development, said Tuesday.

The 11 participants will spend four days a week, for four weeks, learning from district administrators about what the teaching assistant position entails and getting in-classroom experience.

The trainees will visit elementary schools during the program’s first two weeks — which started on Monday — and junior and high school classrooms during the final two. While in the classroom, trainees are watching instructional support staff in action, making observations and writing down questions.

As their training progresses, Crosby said the women will be able to specialize their focus to what they’re interested in — whether they have a preference for elementary or secondary classrooms or special programs.

“We work on advocacy,” said Climb Wyoming Program Director Dane Joslyn. “We are a mental health-based organization, so we do individual counseling and group counseling every week with the women.”

Climb was founded in 1986 in Cheyenne, and at the time its goal was to support women recently released from incarceration. About 20 years ago, its board decided to extend the organization throughout Wyoming.

Climb now has locations in the Cheyenne, Casper, Laramie, Gillette, Sweetwater and Teton areas. According to the organization’s website, Climb has saved Wyoming over $135 million so far in costs to public assistance programs among its graduates.

This story was published on Sept. 13, 2025.