CASPER, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) – As the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming (BGCCW) prepare to host its 26th annual awards and recognition breakfast event, nine youth have been nominated for the title of Youth of the Year.
To qualify for the award, participants must be active club members for at least two years, be over the age of 14, and to demonstrate good moral character and academic excellence.
This year’s nominees are Alex M., Brooklyn S., and Derrek K. from Kelly Walsh High School; Brynn M., Quincey B., and Daniel E. from Natrona County High School; Gracee G. from Sheridan High School; Isabell N. from Dubois High School; And finally, Jase B. from Heathrow Academy.
The winner of the title of Youth of the Year will receive a $7500 scholarship.
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By recognizing these youth, the BGCCW team hopes to empower teens and shape the next generation of leaders.
Teen Director Sherman Hill explains, “A lot of them want to do something fantastic in the future. They want to be social workers, they want to be teachers, they want to do everything like that. So this is that stepping stone of letting them show, if they give back to the community, give back to the club, they have this opportunity to get that head step.”
The Youth of the Year will be announced at the BGCCW awards and recognition breakfast on Wednesday, September 18.
Former Wyoming offensive lineman Caden Barnett recently revealed that he met with the San Francisco 49ers at his pro day, along with several other interested teams, according to Justin Melo of Sports Illustrated.
“There were a few teams at pro day. I met with a few scouts,” Barnett said. “I met with the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, and Arizona Cardinals at pro day.”
Barnett is projected as a late-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. While the 49ers currently do not hold selections beyond the fourth round, he could remain an option as an undrafted free agent if he goes unselected.
The 49ers are widely expected to address the offensive line during the 2026 NFL Draft. Key needs include competition for a starting left guard, along with long-term successors at offensive tackle and center.
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Barnett (6-3, 316) spent five seasons at Wyoming, appearing in 47 games for the Cowboys. He primarily played offensive tackle early in his career before transitioning to guard for his final season.
The offensive lineman impressed at his pro day, turning in a performance that included a 5.05-second 40-time and a 31-inch vertical jump.
Barnett earned career-best marks from Pro Football Focus in 2024, posting an 80.0 overall grade, along with 82.0 in run blocking and 70.4 in pass protection. Those figures declined slightly in 2025, when he recorded an overall grade of 71.3, a run-blocking grade of 73.2, and a pass-blocking grade of 65.8.
In 2025, Barnett started all 12 games at right guard, logging 792 offensive snaps. He allowed just one sack, 18 total pressures, and was flagged for four penalties over the course of the season.
PARK COUNTY, WYO. — The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation hosted its first educator workshop through the National Park Service’s Japanese American Confinement Sites Education Program, bringing teachers, scholars, and site leaders together to deepen understanding of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Watch the story below:
Educators learn lessons of justice and memory at Heart Mountain workshop in Wyoming
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More than 14,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned at the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, located between Cody and Powell, from 1942 to 1945 during World War II. Now, educators are working to make sure that history is no longer forgotten.
For Shirley Ann Higuchi, chair of the foundation and a lawyer from Washington, D.C., that history is deeply personal. Higuchi said she did not learn about her family’s connection to Heart Mountain until her mother revealed it on her deathbed, after years of silence.
Isabel Spartz/MTN News
Shirley Ann Higuchi looks at a photo of her parents, who met while imprisoned at Heart Mountain, at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center.
“On her deathbed, she said she wanted her memorial money to go to Heart Mountain, and that was the first we heard of it,” said Higuchi. “We later found out that she was secretly sending money back to Heart Mountain to dream of something being built here.”
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Her parents met while incarcerated at the camp and later married after reuniting at the University of California, Berkeley.
“I wouldn’t be standing here because my parents would have never met each other unless they had their rights and liberties taken away from them,” said Higuchi.
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Their time at Heart Mountain was an experience, Higuchi said, that shaped generations of families who rarely spoke about what happened.
“I think the incarceration itself was incredibly traumatic, and the only way they could move forward is to put the whole history behind them,” she said.
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That silence extended beyond families and into classrooms, she said, where the history was often omitted entirely.
“With the Japanese American story, it’s been hard to tell this because part of the government’s plan was to suppress the information, and to be quite frank, it worked very well,” said Higuchi. “Where this is one of the worst constitutional violations ever, it wasn’t even taught in law school.”
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The foundation has made significant progress in educating the public about what happened at the site, and Saturday’s workshop at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center aimed to continue this effort.
Funded in part by a $750,000 federal grant matched by the foundation, the three-year initiative will expand education efforts nationwide. Plans include training K-12 teachers, hosting seminars for graduate students, and launching a digital platform to share stories and research.
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The event also brought together representatives from other former incarceration sites across the region, including locations in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Utah, to collaborate on how to tell the story more effectively.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill law professor Eric Muller was one of the participants. He has studied Japanese American incarceration at the site for decades, and said the history remains widely misunderstood.
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Two dozen people attended the workshop.
“This is one of the major historical injustices in this country’s history, and I don’t think that it is well understood enough,” said Muller. “It’s not focused on sufficiently, I think, in educational curricula.”
For educators like brothers Allen and Jason Doty, both Wyoming social studies teachers, the workshop offered a rare opportunity to engage directly with a local historical site.
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Allen Doty, who teaches in Meeteetse, said textbooks often present a limited view of the topic.
“I’m a big advocate of place-based education. This is a great local example of me being 60 miles away,” said Allen Doty. “This was more for me to get a better understanding from it from a more multi-person perspective so that when I’m presenting it to students, I’m able to use primary sources and secondary sources that are effective. Basically for me, this is a good refresh for best practices of a local resource.”
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For Jason Doty, a teacher from Moorcroft, it’s a place that has had a profound impact on his life growing up in the Powell area. He said the proximity of Heart Mountain makes the history especially powerful for students, even though it is several hours away.
“For us as teachers in our discipline in social studies, we can go, ‘Here’s what happens when things break down, and people make decisions during wartime without giving people consideration of their rights and protecting their constitutional rights specifically,’” said Jason Doty. “This happened here … There were 10,000 people plus that were interned here against their will. They weren’t convicted of anything. They were just forced into that situation.”
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Both educators said the workshop provided tools to help students connect with the human stories behind the history, which is something they believe is essential to teaching it effectively.
“Kids connect on a personal level with this kind of stuff, and you can provide them, like, hey, actual people experience this. Here’s their story,” said Jason Doty. “There’s always more to learn. There’s always more personal stories.”
That personal connection drives Muller’s work as well. As a professor, he has brought law students from across the country to the site, believing that standing on the ground where history unfolded creates an understanding no classroom can replicate.
Isabel Spartz/MTN News
“The students, when they come here, they recognize the enormity of what happened to Japanese Americans. They can feel that Wyoming wind blowing on their own faces that would have blown through the barracks that Japanese Americans lived in,” said Muller. “There is a depth of feeling and thought that happens at this place that just can’t be replicated in a classroom anywhere else.”
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Organizers said that impact is exactly the point. By equipping teachers with knowledge and resources, the foundation hopes to reach thousands of students and ensure the lessons of Heart Mountain endure.
“This seems like it was long ago and far away, but it really wasn’t that long ago, and it certainly wasn’t far away. It was right here,” said Muller. “I think that this history reminds us of the speed with which society can transform and the speed with which things, government programs, and policies that would have been unthinkable can become thinkable and actually can come to life in ways that ultimately society will come to regret.”
For Higuchi, preserving this painful chapter of American history is not just a mission, but a responsibility she carries forward with resilience, determined to ensure future generations never forget.
“As an independent museum, we are able to tell the truth, tell the history accurately, and to have objectivity,” said Higuchi. “We want to have a global impact on what happened here because of the significance that this experience has for this country in terms of not doing something like this again.”
The Unpacking Future Packers Countdown is a countdown of 100prospects who the Green Bay Packers could select in the 2026 NFL draft.
Brian Gutekunst has consistently invested in the offensive line. Since taking over as general manager of the Green Bay Packers in 2018, Gutekunst has drafted 17 offensive linemen. Out of those 17 picks, 12 of them were on Day 3.
With the Packers needing to bolster the depth of their offensive line, Gutekunst could once again target an offensive lineman on Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft, with a potential target being Caden Barnett. The Wyoming offensive linemen checks in at No. 23 in the Unpacking Future Packers Countdown.
A native of Texas and a high school offensive tackle, Barnett redshirted during his first season at Wyoming. In 2022, he started one game at right tackle. The following season, Barnett started 10 games at right tackle. In 2024, Barnett started 12 games at right tackle. During his final season at Wyoming, Barnett started 12 games at right guard.
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“Caden Barnett represented loyalty for Wyoming in a landscape where that isn’t prioritized enough,” Alex Taylor, a University of Wyoming beat writer for WyoSports, said. “He’s one of the few players in this year’s draft class to play his entire career for one school, and that benefited him enormously with his development since coming out of high school. His continuity in the program allowed him to develop into a key leader for the team.”
At 6-3, 316 pounds, with 33-inch arms and tackle-guard versatility, Barnett certainly checks the boxes for the Packers. Throw in his athleticism and the potential to play center and he screams “Green Bay Day 3 offensive lineman.” Barnett clocked a 1.73 10-yard split, a 4.55 short shuttle, and a 7.65 3-cone.
Barnett is a strong run blocker. He plays with a ton of energy and is always looking for work. The Wyoming product has a high football IQ and understands how to use angles to help him open up running lanes. His athleticism is on full display when he gets out in space. He has nimble feet and moves like a tight end. He doesn’t labor and is quick to hit his landmarks. Barnett plays with a low-center gravity and stays under his blocks to great surge.
“There are several clips of Barnett running 15 yards upfield and pancaking a defensive back on a run play,” Taylor said. “He is very athletic and agile for his size, which allows him to use his size advantage to gain leverage on edges or up the middle. He played both tackle and guard in college, which has given him a variety of looks in run blocking.”
Barnett is probably best suited to play guard at the next level. He’s a bit heavy-legged and quicker edge rushers can give him issues. Get him inside, and he could thrive. During his lone season playing guard, he allowed 1 sack and 18 pressures. Out of those 18 pressures, six of them came against Nevada, where he played 35 snaps at right guard and 30 at right tackle. He stays balanced in his setup and doesn’t panic in his reset. His football acumen shows up in pass protection. He has alert eyes.
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“His pass protection is fairly consistent,” Taylor said. “Aside from the occasional blow-by or penalty, Barnett has proven more than capable of defending his quarterback at both guard and tackle. He was playing in one of the worst passing offenses in the country the past two seasons, which made a lot of Wyoming’s plays predictable in certain situations.”
Fit with the Packers
In theory, the Packers have their starting offensive line in place for the upcoming season. They’ll roll out Jordan Morgan, Aaron Banks, Sean Rhyan, Anthony Belton and Zach Tom to protect Jordan Love.
Adding a player like Barnett, who offers four-position versatility, could prove to be incredibly valuable as the Packers need to bolster the depth of the offensive line.
With his experience, athleticism and work ethic, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Barnett could challenge Belton for reps at right guard.
Even if Taylor doesn’t earn a starting role immediately in Green Bay, adding a player who could play multiple positions on Day 3 of the draft is a great use of resources.
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“If anybody knows about Caden Barnett as a prospect, then they’ve probably seen the viral videos of him yelling and screaming up and down the field,” Taylor said. “His energy and willingness to be vocal exemplify who he is as a player. He has no problem leaving everything he has out on the field for his teammates, which isn’t something people can say about every NFL prospect in today’s era of NIL and transferring every other year.
