After Marilyn Cotant retired from her work as Dean of Students at Eastern Wyoming College in 2008, her husband convinced her that she was not quite yet done helping students. She took a part time job at the middle school where he worked, and during that time, they began the Goshen County School District Backpack Program.
Through a partnership with the Food Bank of Wyoming, they were able to put together backpacks every week with various food and snacks for students in need. They quickly gained a following of volunteers and the program grew exponentially.
“I think at our peak, we were serving probably 500 students in the Goshen County School District at all those schools. It just started out with the middle school and just kind of bred a lot from there,” she said. “Eventually, we even had some students who went to Eastern Wyoming College who got backpacks.”
For those who know Contant, it came as no surprise that she and her husband would have started this program. She has been serving young people her entire life. Not only was her entire career dedicated to helping college students find their way, but she spent much of her time off campus providing students with a home.
“My husband and I always tried to help students who are less fortunate,” she said. “…During our marriage—we've been married almost 55 years now—we have had at least a dozen children who have lived with us for six months or up to two years.”
These children ranged from middle school to college age, and their situations ranged from foster care to their parents moving and the student wishing to finish out their education alongside their friends.
Her heart for service is what made all of her volunteer efforts, as well as her work in higher education, so rewarding. Cotant, who received the EWC Albert C. Conger Distinguished Service Award, said she got her Associates, Bachelors and Masters degrees with only one thing in mind — the desire to help others.
“I really didn't know exactly what I wanted to do,” she said. So, she decided to help other students figure out their future careers by landing a job as a vocational evaluator at Nebraska Western College (now known as Western Nebraska Community College).
As she continued her education and grew her experience, she made the transition to director of the Career Assessment Center at Nebraska Western College in 1985 and eventually transferred to the same position at Eastern Wyoming College in 1986. She and her family loved Torrington, and she decided to advance her career there, helping as many students as she could along the way.
“My fondest memories are getting to know students and trying to help them figure out what they wanted to do with their lives,” Cotant said, “seeing that light bulb go on when they go, ‘Aha, that's what I want to do. That's what I want to be.’”
In 1994, she became Assistant Dean of Students and then in 2004, Dean of Students before her retirement in 2008. In those roles, she helped students in more ways than just figuring out their futures, and it wasn’t always easy.
“I did a lot of counseling with students, either who got into trouble grade-wise or legal-wise, for breaking some of the rules of the college,” she said. “When I was dean of students, I was in charge of discipline, and that was a challenging part of the job. Also, in lots of ways, gratifying because you to help students work through some tough situations.”
No matter how tough the job got, she always stuck to her mission to help others.
“When people would get frustrated with the students at EWC, I'd say, ‘Well, God is not done with them yet.’ They're still growing, developing, and they will find their way, but sometimes it does take a while,” Cotant said. “The beauty of working in the community college system is just that it's such a rewarding job. I always felt like I got as much out of the job as I gave to the job.”
Now that both Cotant and her husband are retired, one would think they’d take a break from their dedication to service. However, they still make time to serve the community through their church. They also enjoy reminiscing about all the students that came into their lives, and even visiting with some of them after they’ve grown up.
“We had a foster child who lived with us for over a year, and on Memorial Day (2022), he stopped by our house. We hadn't seen him for a long time,” she said. “It was really fun to get to visit with him and talk to him for a while.”
While their work has not gone unnoticed, Cotant said it was just a part of who she and her husband are.
“We've always had a knack for serving children and helping out wherever we could. We kind of made that our mission early on in our marriage,” she said. “Some of our better memories of our career is those little things that you do to help other people.”