Welcome to the Colorado/Wyoming Optimist District!
Optimist International is a worldwide volunteer organization made up of over 2100 local Clubs whose Members work each day to make the future brighter by bringing out the best in children, their communities and themselves. Optimists conduct 65,000 community service projects each year spending $78 million in their communities. Annually, six million kids are positively affected by Optimist programs.
The Colorado-Wyoming Optimist District represents 35 Optimist Clubs in Colorado and Wyoming. These clubs work together as a district and independently to serve kids in their local area. The CO-WY District is involved in all of the Optimist International scholarship and charitable programs plus a whole lot more.
Our Signature Projects
OI Scholarship Contests
Optimist International sponsors four scholarship contests for students to earn money to pursue opportunities in higher education: These contests are conducted at the Club level, Zone level, District level and International level with recognition and prizes at each level.
~ Essay Contest
~ Oratorical Contest
~ Junior Golf
Childhood Health and Wellness
Optimist International Foundation raises money and provides grants for Club and District initiated projects that improve the quality of life of children. These projects span a broad spectrum of needs including healthy lifestyle, chronic diseases, mental health and physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Optimist Brain Bowl
The Optimist Brain Bowl is a team quiz competition for 6th, 7th and 8th grade students and is our district’s largest Optimist sponsored program with more than 500 students participating. For more information visit www.optimistbrainbowl.org
Club Generated Activities
Bob Hamblin
2026-2027 CO-WY District Governor
It is with deepest humility and gratitude that I accept your call to be your Governor in 2026-2027. I’m committed to listen to you, to learn from you, and to work alongside you to carry on our mission to provide hope and positive vision, and bring out the best in youth, our communities and ourselves.
We are facing challenges unlike any we’ve seen before.
WE have a noble calling. A sacred obligation!
WE are the ones who must reach out to our clubs, to our members, to our communities and “Make Our Optimism Come True”.
WE are the ones who are equipped with the power to cut through all the garbage, negativity, gloom and doom surrounding us.
WE are the ones who must stand up to all the doubters, the naysayers, all the pessimists of the world and say, “No! It doesn’t have to be that way!”
WE are the ones who make the choice every day to be “Too large for worry. Too noble for anger. Too strong for fear. Too happy to permit the presence of trouble”.
And together, WE are the ones whose beliefs and actions are making a positive difference in a negative world.
WE are the Optimists of the World! Are You with me? Are you ready to go out and change the world? Let’s Do This!
Mission
By providing hope and positive vision, Optimists bring out the best in youth, our communities, and ourselves.
The Optimist Creed
Promise Yourself:
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
