From Nepal To Riverton, One Student’s 30-Year Journey Leads To Global Partnership

When a young student from a rural Nepali village with no running water finally found his way to America and Central Wyoming College in Riverton 30 years ago, it was a leap of faith. He was back Thursday to explore partnerships between Wyoming and Nepal.

Renée Jean
April 23, 2026
8 min read

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Mohan Dangi poses in front of Central Wyoming College's Sacagawea statue. He still remembers removing snow from the surrounding sidewalks on campus at 3 a.m. in the morning, when he was a CWC student. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)

When a young student from a rural Nepali village with no running water finally found his way to America and boarded a string of Greyhound buses bound for Central Wyoming College in Riverton 30 years ago, it was a personal leap of faith. ... Now that leap is turning into an effort to create a long-term pipeline for talent, innovation and business between Wyoming and Nepal — something far beyond the usual alumni-makes-good story.

Mohan Dangi had been studying to be a medical doctor in Pennsylvania, but was finding his aptitudes aligned better with engineering. He’d also become quite homesick for his native Nepal. ... He had a friend, Ramesh Sedhain, attending CWC who thought he’d find a better fit there.

That landed Dangi in Shoshoni, where he found there was no direct connection to CWC for the Greyhound bus that had brought him there. He was stranded. ... Wyoming did what it always does, however, and a few frantic phone calls later, Dangi had a ride coming to Shoshoni, to take him the rest of the way to his new school.

At the time, no one — least of all Dangi — imagined this would be the start of a future international partnership.

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Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.