By Allison Allsop
Casper Star-Tribune
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

CASPER — On America’s annual day of honor for its military veterans, Wyoming unveiled its plan for implementing a new curriculum on historical wars that Superintendent Megan Degenfelder hopes will help produce an “unabashedly patriotic classroom setting” across the state. 

The curriculum, introduced at a Monday press conference in Dubois, will be available for the 2025- 2026 school year via the Civics Ed Center, which was unveiled earlier this year. 

The Civics Ed Center is a partnership with the Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program, and it houses resources and curriculum options for teachers to use during the school day. 

The new materials will be curated for middle and high school students, according to Jason McConnell with the Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program. 

While considering her run for elected office, Degenfelder recounted Monday, she worried about how many students are growing up without a love for America. 

“Why can’t we return to an unabashedly patriotic classroom setting in our public schools?” she questioned. 

The state is working with local educators to complete the curriculum, according to the education department’s Chief Communications Officer Linda Finnerty. 

Degenfelder unveiled the Civics Ed Center in July. The tool is more like a repository than a curriculum on its own, according to Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program. 

The state will partner with the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois, the site of the Veterans Day press conference, to create content that will educate students on World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. 

Dan Starks, the founder of the Dubois-based museum, showed examples of videos that the museum has already created for its own purposes. One of them featured a local World War II veteran, Tom Guthrie, who talked about his war experience and challenges. 

The materials available in the Civics Ed Center are not just for school districts or teachers. Anyone can access the center to educate themselves or use the materials in their at-home lessons. 

Wyoming isn’t the first state to take a closer look at civics and social studies education in public schools. Other states have begun to implement curriculum from organizations like PragerU, a conservative media company that has faced backlash for the way it has depicted historical events related to slavery. 

Currently, PragerU does not have a partnership with Wyoming.