Celebrating the best

WORLAND - The Washakie County School District No. 1 has had many talented students graduate and accomplish even more after going through the district, and there have been just as many who have helped build District 1 to what it is today. It is for this reason the Warrior Hall of Fame is being created, to honor the accomplished alumni and those who worked in District 1.

The first thought that comes to mind when talking about a hall of fame is athletics, and many high schools that have a hall of fame in place generally focus on honoring solely athletic achievements. This is where the Warrior HoF will be different.

Now, athletic achievements will absolutely be honored but the mission is to cast a wide net and look to have a variety of potential HoF inductees. Doing this will showcase how diverse WHS is and the many different pathways to success each alumni has taken. The Warrior HoF won't just pay tribute to WHS alumni but also those who have made an impact on the district as employees, like teachers, paraeducators, administrators, custodians, cooks, coaches or providers of philanthropic support for students or the district.

The nomination process for the Warrior HoF is quite simple, first off, you cannot nominate yourself, WHS alum have to have been graduated for at least 10 years and non-alum must be 10 years past retirement from working in the district.

A selection committee consisting of WHS AD Mark Mortimer, three school members, two school board trustees and two community members have been taking the nominations since spring. The problem the committee is running into is there haven't been enough nominations to this point. So far only seven have been nominated

"That's the tough part and getting this thing going, we just haven't had the nominations," said Mortimer. "The majority of our nominations have been wrestlers and this is a big wrestling community, but we're not hitting the other areas where it could be former teachers, administrators, people who have worked in the building over long periods of time.

"Then there are the people who have done amazing stuff either collegiately or post-collegiately. One example that comes to mind is Kenneth W. McDonald, he spoke at graduation a couple years ago and was awesome."

Continued Mortimer: "The big point is we want the Hall of Fame to be more than just athletics...I think people are under the impression that it's only going to be sports."

The goal for the inaugural Warrior Hall of Fame class is to have a diverse group of 10, first ballot inductees. From there the future HoF classes will have a least six inductees, with the possibility for more depending on the strength of nominees from year to year.

"We're trying to get 10 inducted into the first class, then from there go six. For our first 10 we want people to look at it and say they absolutely belong," said Mortimer. "From there on out we'd like to have a minimum of six. That way if one year we have really strong nominations, we're not going to pin it down to one number."

After the nomination deadline on April 15 and the committee has selected the inaugural class for the Warrior HoF, an announcement while be made around the end of the school year. Then in the following school year, the HoF banquet will be held during the week of homecoming.

"We'll announce it in late May before school gets out and that way we can begin contacting people and make sure they'll be here for homecoming."

To submit a nomination for the Warrior Hall of Fame you can either write or email Mark Mortimer at Worland High School 801 S. 17th Street Worland, WY 82401 or [email protected]. Be sure to include your reasoning for nominating said person as well as their list of accomplishments as a Warrior, in college and/or career accomplishments. All nominees who aren't inducted will still be considered for the following year's class, with the ability to add additional information.