In Montana, halfway between Butte and Helena, there is a little town called Boulder. Not to be confused with its more populous namesake in Colorado, the Boulder in Montana boasts panoramic mountain views and a population of roughly 1,200. 

It’s the perfect home for someone with a lifelong passion for animals and outdoorsmanship—someone like Kayla Hecht Bare. 

“I live here because I really love the outdoors,” Kayla said. “Especially when it's a crystal clear blue day with no clouds or anything…it feels like the state expands into no-man's-land and there's mountains everywhere you go. We can experience the wilderness right here in our backyard.”

To some, the thought of leaving such idyllic surroundings seems inconceivable, but for young people seeking to advance their careers through higher education, it can feel like the only option. 

“They often say that the number one export in Montana is not our water and it's not our minerals. It's our kids,” said Sarah Swanson, Commissioner of the Montana Department of Labor & Industry. “To pursue the opportunities young people are interested in today, they leave the state to go to university or to go for an internship or a residency. And the return rate of our young people when they leave is not as high as we'd like it to be.”

Montana’s Number One Export

On September 25, 2023, Commissioner Swanson joined Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, along with representatives from the Montana Hospital Association, Montana Chamber of Commerce, and Western Governors University, for a roundtable discussion addressing this exodus of students from rural communities and its impact on the state’s workforce.

“We know that every year from now until 2032, we need at least 20,000, arguably 21,000, new skilled workers in careers like teaching,” Commissioner Swanson said. “That doesn't include our urban counties, that is just 20,000 Montanans a year in our rural communities that we're not adequately prepared for.”

Solving Montana’s workforce needs is a complex challenge that requires complex solutions–and it starts with making higher education more accessible to students right in their rural hometowns. 

“Our obligation through our education policy and partnerships is to help every student reach their full potential,” said Gov. Gianforte. “This is where WGU comes in.”

World-Class Education, At Home

Teaching runs in the family for Kayla Hecht-Bare. Her mother, Kayla’s greatest role model, has worked in education for Kayla’s entire life. While sorting through boxes of childhood mementos, Hecht found a project she had completed in kindergarten. Right there, following the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, was a single word in a six-year-old’s scrawl: teacher. 

So when she decided it was time to change from the physical therapy career she was pursuing, Kayla knew what direction she wanted to take—she just didn’t know where to take it.

“I had really wanted to just give up from my last school that I was at. I didn’t feel like I was getting accepted and supported,” she said. “I just kind of wanted to do what my brother did: work for a year and then eventually find a school that would work for my lifestyle…being able to work a full time job, provide for my family, my husband, dog.”

That’s when her mother told her about an online university a family friend had attended: somewhere she could work at her own pace, from her own home, and receive a teaching degree in a fraction of the time (and at a fraction of the cost) of a traditional university.

WGU’s School of Education is the largest in the nation, with more than 37,000 active students across the United States. From the moment she enrolled, Kayla knew that WGU would be different.

“When I realized what kind of a community WGU was, I was glad I made the change,” Kayla said. “They helped me see that I didn’t have to give up [my own community].”

Kayla’s instructors and mentors at WGU continued to care for her throughout the course of her education, even helping her find a student teaching placement right in Boulder.

“They boosted me up and they batted for me,” Kayla said. “It really made me love WGU more. My past school never would have done that for me.”