Education a lifelong passion for SCSU alumna

Cheryl Trimble was always meant to be a teacher, and knew it from a young age.

“My favorite pastime was playing school, often torturing my two brothers as my pupils. When they tired of the teacher bossing them around, my dolls would take their place,” she said of her childhood. “My mom says from the time I could talk, I was a teacher.”

The St. Cloud State University alumna also drew inspiration from her own third-grade teacher, who she said made Trimble “feel seen, valued and safe.”

“I knew then that I was going to be a teacher. If I could do the same for just one child and make an impact in their life, then my career would be a success. Cliché, right?” she said. “But Mrs. Mylnek taught me the importance of building relationships with students and parents, and I wanted to do the same.”

While Trimble initially intended to go to college further away from where she grew up in Monticello, Minnesota, she quickly changed her mind after visiting SCSU’s campus.

“Once I came and toured the education program, that's what made me really stay close to home and stay here,” she said. “And it was a good fit for me.”

Trimble was part of the SCSU chapter of Delta Zeta International Sorority while at the University, and earned her bachelor’s in elementary education in 1988.

She started her teaching career in Nevada working with at-risk kindergarteners, and was named Rookie Teacher of the Year for her efforts. She then moved to Colorado and went back to school to earn a master’s in early childhood special education, before teaching special education in the state for a number of years before moving to Wyoming to continue that path. She earned her certification to teach K-12 special education, and has been teaching 18- to 21-year-olds for the last several years of her 34-year teaching career.

“I advocated for a transfer to work with this population because I felt like they weren't being served,” she said. “Some needs weren't being addressed like they should be.”

Trimble connected with the program Compass Academy, which works with students to build independent living skills, employment skills and social emotional skills. The program also has a community service component. Trimble works with her students to pack nearly 400 backpacks full of food each week for students in their community who have signed up for a food assistance program. The work caught the attention of First Lady of Wyoming Jennie Gordon, who has since provided grants to enable a commercial refrigerator to be purchased so that fresh fruits and vegetables could be available for the program.

Trimble has also worked hard to cultivate relationships elsewhere in her community so that her students have more opportunities to gain employment and other important life skills. Her efforts were recognized by her colleagues, as Trimble was named Teacher of the Year in 2025 in her Goshen County School District in Wyoming.

“My impact is to ensure that my students are as independent and successful as they can be by the time they age out of the program at 21,” Trimble said. “I’ve had students get their first apartment as they're completing the program. I've had students pass their first community college course while enrolled in the program. To see them be successful, independent, productive citizens of the community is just so rewarding.”

That’s the end goal for most teachers, Trimble said, is to set their students up for future success as they finish their academic careers.

“I would say that teaching is not a career — it's a passion, and you have to have a desire to make an impact. Each student follows their own individual path or compass to success. That's kind of the motto of Compass Academy. Everyone's on their own individual track,” she said. “Meeting with the students and families to find out what their dreams and goals are for the student by the time they finish the program; that's what we work toward making happen, so that they're as close to that as possible when they age out of the program.”