During this past summer, Rob Forget, Matt Suby, Brittany Krull and others worked with Minnesota West to devise a program that included a collaboration between MinnWest and SMSU. 

After coming up with the Blue to Brown Connection program, and having it be accepted in July, the two schools immediately began to seek applicants.

The students who applied and were accepted are technically registered at Minnesota West, but live at Southwest Minnesota State University and take classes from MinnWest teachers here.

“It really offers experience from two different schools,” said Scott Voss, Blue to Brown Connection Program coordinator.

There are ten of these students who are getting this experience. Each are first-year college students who can go to, and do, almost everything that an SMSU student can—while taking just slightly different classes.

“We don’t want these students viewed like they are not a part of our community, because they are,” said Voss.

Once the program is finished for a student, meaning they have successfully completed 24 credits, they can choose whether they want to become a permanent SMSU student or transfer elsewhere.

The hope is that these students will stick with SMSU, and recommend others to apply for the program as well.

“The expectation is the program will grow,” said Voss. “Hopefully we develop a program that is well-respected and does a lot for students that are in it.”