Rocky upcoming junior takes on Laramie at High School Institute

Alex Walker spent three weeks in Laramie at the 42nd annual High School Institute (HSI) hosted by the University of Wyoming. He was one of 58 students chosen to attend this year’s event among other academically motivated students from around the state. Walker was nominated by Gerry Burton and Jessee Wilson to attend and ultimately selected by the admissions committee at UW.

The High School Institute began in 1985 and has been extremely successful in preparing students for the academic challenges of the collegiate level. More than 3,500 students have attended HSI, and many have gone on to attend UW.

The HSI program allows participants to not only live in dorms but also to take two college level classes taught by faculty. Walker also mentioned that there were a lot of fun activities as well; it wasn’t all work and no play. The days sounded typical of a college student, with morning workouts, class in the morning, lunch and afternoon class followed by activities. 

Each student enrolls in a humanities class, as well as a STEM class. Walker chose an acting class, and for STEM class he chose environmental engineering. The acting class had about one third of the participants, proving its popularity. This seems to fit perfectly with Walker’s future to include his musical talents. 

His environmental engineering class showed him how important engineers are in the world and now he has much appreciation for all that they do. As part of his STEM class, he was able to not only tour the high-tech Drilling and Completions Facility, but the professor allowed Walker and other students to utilize the state-of-the-art facility. The excitement in Walker’s voice was palpable with excitement and intrigue when he described using the very expensive, sensitive and accurate equipment as it was “above the pay grade of any high school aged kid.”

Walker’s favorite part of HSI was “meeting people from around the state that were similar to me and shared similar goals.” While whitewater rafting was his favorite activity, it was clear that the entire experience was not only worthwhile but “this camp changed my life,” he said. 

Alex Walker’s future is bright, and we look forward to seeing what his future brings. The University of Wyoming has fulfilled its mission with HSI as Walker has built “another layer of foundation” for his days that he anticipates spending at UW. He also encourages more students from the area to apply to this amazing experience as he was the only one from our region.