GILLETTE, Wyo. — People decide to move to Wyoming for many reasons. Some come for work, while others love outdoor sports.
Brent Taylor, an English teacher at Thunder Basin High School and a football coach for Campbell County High School, moved from Arkansas to Gillette in July for an adventure.
After living in Dardanelle, Ark., for eight years, he and his wife, Samantha Taylor, decided in spring 2022 that they wanted to show their children that it’s good to explore the world that lies beyond that town of 5,000, which is about an hour northwest of Little Rock. He said he didn’t want their children to be afraid to make big moves and take some risks, especially when they knew that if they had to, they could just come back to Arkansas.
“Sometimes [adventures are] going to work out, and sometimes they’re not,” he said. “That’s OK. And you learn from it, and you move on.”
Brent said he’d enjoyed visiting Colorado on a college field trip and Montana always seemed cool, so he wanted easy access to both states. With a job offer in hand, Brent and Samantha made the move to Wyoming with their four children: Cruz, Raylee, Isabelle and AnnaGrace.
When they moved to Wyoming, they made it a point to take advantage of the many opportunities the city and the surrounding region offer and do something new at least every couple of weeks, in the spirit of adventure. The family enjoyed visiting Mount Rushmore, the Bighorn Mountains and the Black Hills. They also love Gillette’s several parks, and Brent likes the CAM-PLEX Festival of Lights.
In the past six months, Raylee’s already been able to perform in two plays. She and Isabelle have sung in a choir and gone caroling around the city. The Arkansas elementary school didn’t have a choir, Brent said. Brent said Cruz is pretty shy and reserved, so his experience of talking to new people and making new friends has prompted him to become more outgoing and receptive. Brent said he’s enjoyed seeing Cruz’s personality blossom.
Brent told his students at Thunder Basin not to take these opportunities for granted. The Arkansas town they lived in is near a larger town, which may have had some of the opportunities Gillette has, but, at the very least, the activities weren’t as apparent, he said. He said he may have also been busier with coaching. However, it seems to him that with how geographically spread out Wyoming’s towns and cities are, the municipalities have to be self-sufficient, he said.
“You have to have just about everything you need right there because the next closest town may be an hour and a half away,” he said.
From the first day they moved into Gillette, their neighbors have been helping them with tips, like how to survive a Wyoming winter, he said. The winter storm in December was the first time Brent had to shovel snow in order to move his vehicle out of the driveway.
In Arkansas, they’d tend to get just a couple of days a year where there would be snow on the ground, so the children had a lot of fun playing in the snow the moment the wind stopped blowing, he said.
He said the family’s neighbors have given him advice and everyone they’ve spoken to has been helpful. He said that while people in the South are friendly, people in Wyoming will go above and beyond to be helpful, even if they don’t go out of their way to greet people.
Brent said likes teaching students in Gillette. He’s asked them for feedback on his teaching and if there are events his family should be sure to check out.
“And they’re like, ‘Oh, you gotta take them to this!'” he said.
The teachers in the Thunder Basin English department have been outstanding in helping him get started and supporting him in his first year of teaching the subject, he said.
After Thunder Basin High School Social Studies Department Head/Teacher Sydnie Arehart retires, Taylor will take her position in the social studies department, Head Principal Terry Quinn said. Quinn said Brent has built great connections with students.
When Taylor was hired to be Campbell County High School’s football coach, the only teaching jobs available were in the English Department. After 17 years of teaching social studies, he figured “teaching is teaching,” he said. He was allowed to teach the subject under emergency authorization. He said he’s since gained a deeper appreciation for the English teachers because there’s a lot involved in trying to teach the subject.
“I couldn’t have done it without their help,” he said.
Teaching English has reinvigorated his love for reading. He said he’s probably read more in the past year than he has in the past decade, and he’s jumped back into exploring literature instead of simply leadership or coaching books. He’d forgotten he really likes Edgar Allen Poe.
In Arkansas, teaching jobs tend to be tied to coaching jobs, he said. For example, a coach would have a teaching job lined up that’s part of the role. He said he initially found Wyoming’s method of completely separating the coach and teacher roles confusing. Coaches don’t have to teach at the same school that they coach at. He had Thunder Basin High School football players in his classes, and they’d compare notes on the out-of-town teams they played. The week before Campbell County High School’s football team played Thunder Basin High School was the only period he felt cross-town tension, he said. After Thunder Basin beat Campbell County, the students bragged a little for a few days, which he found some humor in.
The temperature swings from winter lows to summer highs speak to the toughness and survivalist attitude of the state, he said. He said that while they’ve missed some warmer winter weather, and they haven’t made it through a Wyoming winter yet, he thinks they’ll survive it just fine.
He and Samantha have spoken to friends from Arkansas, who’ve asked them if they’re coming back.
“Not unless they kick us out,” he says.
