Nicholas Zent (Unaffiliated)

72 Jack Dr
Sheridan, Wyoming 82801-9552
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I was raised in Shoshoni. My father was a career teacher and my mother was the municipal judge. I studied computers at CWC, served a two-year service mission in Chile and then earned a degree from BYU in Construction Management. After college I worked for a large construction firm based in Pasadena where I earned a MS degree from an architectural school. After 8 years in California, we moved to Florida to start a new company and were there for 4 years. Ultimately, we could pick anywhere we wanted to live and quickly chose to get back to Wyoming. We fell in love with Big Horn, long before it was "cool" to work form home. We've been here almost 4 years. My wife is from Riverton and is a Special Education teacher at BHE. We've been married 21 years with four amazing daughters: a senior, freshmen, 7th grader, and 4th grader. Today, I design warehouses all over the Country. I enjoy spending time with my family.

Shoshoni HS Student Body President – Attended Board meetings, non-voting.
School Improvement Committee Member – Redlands, CA
PTA Member – Redlands, CA
Home School Coalition Committee Member – Winter Garden, FL
Interview Panel Member – SCSD1
District Accountability Group Member – SCSD1

Shoshoni High School – Graduate
Central Wyoming College – Technical Certificate (MCSE+I)
Brigham Young University – BS Construction Management
The New School of Architecture and Design San Diego – MS Construction Management

The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints – Active Member
Special Olympics – Coach
Licensed General Contractor – North Carolina
Design Build Institute of America – Certified Professional

I genuinely believe SCSD1 is the best school district in the state and I want to do my part to keep it that way. As a trustee, I feel I can have positive impact on the performance of district students and ultimately the opportunities they have in life.

The district has a clear mission and ambitious goals. I support those objectives and understand the role of a trustee in accomplishing them. The state entrusts local districts with both the responsibly and autonomy to provide a high quality and equitable education for the students which reside in the district. I am running first and foremost to serve the students of our district.

I feel the current board and administration have done a phenomenal job managing operations during a couple of very challenging years. There appears to be a solid working relationship between the board and Superintendent Kilbride. I hope to continue to strengthen that relationship through open communication and teamwork.

1. I will strive to ensure safety measures are in place and upheld to protect our students. Over 85 students and staff have been killed or injured in school violence in the past year. Our district has a unique challenge in that none of our communities has their own police force. I will work to ensure the Sheriff's department can continue to provide a deputy presence at our schools.

2. I will fight to keep class sizes small. SCSD1's culture is founded on the same principles as the Little Blue School - a dedicated teacher and a small group of local students. We've grown, but our values don't need to change. Our own test scores have proven smaller classes are a factor in high performance. Requests for out of district placements are significant and we face a real challenge in working within the state's funding model which is based on enrolment numbers. I do not support the idea of allowing out of district students to enroll simply to increase funding. I've seen first-hand the pitfalls of this model. If elected, I will commit to doing everything I can to retain our small school culture.

3. I will support the best teachers and staff in the state. Our district is fortunate in that people actually want to live here. Other areas face staffing shortages. However, with limited funding we cannot afford to keep up with increased costs of living in the area. We must find alternative methods of recruiting and retaining top teachers if the state to remain the top district.