In response to a spate of dating couples starting to take the “next steps” even while still students at the school and wanting to make sure the school offers them the best preparation possible, Wyoming Catholic College will be updating its curriculum with the addition of a year of marriage preparation and Natural Family Planning during each student’s junior year. School theology and humanities professor Dr. Kent Benoski will teach the two consecutive one-credit, one-semester courses as part of the school’s “practical” Experiential Leadership Curriculum and it will be required for all students, not just those who are dating or engaged. 

“Even if you’re not dating yet,” says the professor, “You probably will be soon, so our new courses in marriage preparation and NFP, exceeding requirements set by any diocese in America, are a crucial piece of preparation for the future. Your future!”

Unlike in other class sections, dating couples will be put together rather than separated in these courses, where practical knowledge instilled in lectures from Dr. Benoski, priests, other faculty, and married couple along with Socratic discussions on vocations, marriage, and family based on the writings of such as St. Thomas Aquinas, Pope Paul VI, and Pope St. John Paul II.

Those considering religious vocations will still benefit, as they’ll be doubly confirmed in their callings by the course. Dr. Benoski also promises that those who take the course abd are not yet dating but want to will be “dating by the end of the first semester and engaged after the second or your money back”, a promise that has many who at the school thought themselves long undateable quite excited for the course.

PDA, however, will still be restricted in the classroom for this course, and Dr. Benoski hopes to bring on Jacob Zepp, an experienced professional at dealing with and defusing PDA situations to help enforce this policy in each class.

Juniors of the Class of 2022 who currently only have one couple entirely within their class will be the first to take the course.