2025 Awards Dinner Announcement

Bruce Berst 

educated as one of the longest serving educators in the history of Natrona County School District Number 1.  

Veteran Casper Social Studies-History Educator "Mr. Berst" (Natrona County High School, Roosevelt High School, Dean of Students Roosevelt High School [retired 6/2025]), Union Civil War and Cavalry historical re-enactor, and Board President for The National Historic Trails Center Foundation has spent his life in service of our community's youth.  

Over his storied educational career, he was a much loved history teacher from his start teaching on a Montana reservation to a lifetime of service in at-risk programming in the district.  

He's regaled generations of young Casperites to imbue them with a love of local history through living history historical re-enactment, from his Snake Oil Medicine Show schtick to his more serious cavalry and civil war roles.   He continues to serve our community in leading The National Historic Trails Center Foundation through challenging times.  He is a founding member of the living history group at Fort Caspar and member of The Casper Elks Club. 

Velvit Locklin, RN

advocates for quality group and senior homes for those with challenges in our community.  

Velvit is an advocate in the pursuit of funding for people in need.  She labors to provide and improve quality professional development for public health- and public- minded nurses in our community.  She works to bring public awareness to the unmet needs in our community.   

She's a tireless advocate for rescuing clients from horrific situations and spends every day of her career and many hours after giving her clients lives filled with greater dignity.  

As no one in our community deserves any less, she's another shining star in our community making it brighter.  

Leann Miller 

builds greenhouses at Natrona County area schools in the public interest and a robust local market for local Wyoming agricultural producers.

 So doing promotes food security in our community and hands-on elementary science education through greenhouses attached to elementary schools where Casper area elementary students can learn about the science of life through gardening and growing food, reducing individual food insecurity for Casper families.   

The project she founded not only develops capacity for local food security but also promotes the dispersed knowledge and practice of gardening in our community, which inherently builds community. 

She is a very active founding member of the Wyoming Food Coalition: WY Food Matters, and The Wyoming Farm-to-Plate Stakeholder Network. Currently, she is the Local Food Broker for Fresh Foods Wyoming, L3C, and the Eat Wyoming Online Farmers Market, connecting retail and wholesale producers and consumers all while operating a statewide CSA program.  

Her dedication to local foods has helped her develop a statewide network of key producers and buyers who share the vision of a robust local food system in Wyoming.  She has been an integral part of the local food procurement programs for Food Bank of Wyoming and statewide school districts, having worked with The Wyoming Department of Education's and Natrona County School District’s Farm-to-School Program. She's been a quiet and effective advocate to these ends in building food security infrastructure for the future.