PITTSBURG, Kan. — At the PSU President’s Summit last Thursday, Rep. Julie Menghini, D-Pittsburg, put into words what many around the table already knew: The majority of young people growing up in small, Midwestern towns want nothing more than to leave the area upon graduation from high school or college.
What resonated quietly but consistently among those present at the summit was the common desire to keep those young people in the community.
To be sure, it was the ultimate think tank: The group of 30 was comprised of leaders from local schools, the city, the Chamber of Commerce, Pittsburg State University, and county and state elected officials.
Each voiced ideas, opinions and suggestions in an effort to ensure a positive future for Pittsburg.
City Commissioner Pam Henderson, who works in admissions at PSU, said leaders should focus on the impact that the Kansas Technology Center and Tyler Research Center — both located on the PSU campus — have on the community’s economic development, and work to grow that impact.
Henderson suggested that impact could mean graduates who want to stay in the community, develop businesses, become entrepreneurs and become a part of the work force.
Mike Bodensteiner, the new executive director of the Southeast Kansas Education Service Center, said he’d like to work in partnership to “harness the resources we have got,” referring to the bioscience labs at the SEK-ESC that provide research and investigation opportunities to K-12 students.
Menghini expressed her desire to see a partnership develop between the university and area high schools to “fill gaps” that exist at the secondary level in classes like computer technology — something she knew of first-hand as the parent of a teen.
She believes doing so would foster involvement in students’ interest areas, build a loyalty to PSU, and increase the chance that they are likely to stay in the community.
Mark Turnbull, Pittsburg’s economic development director, and Richard Dearth, dean of the College of Business at PSU, spoke of the relationships the university is forging with local businesses. A mini-MBA program kicked off last year, a second new program will kick off this fall, and there is a third program “on the drawing board” that will offer business and professional development opportunities.
City Commissioner and lifelong resident Marty Beezley said she is eager to build the Research & Development Park, something that has been “talked about for years.”
Of fostering business growth on that southeastern acreage that is home to K.W. Brock Directories and Kansas Polymer Research Center, she said city leaders “stand ready to do anything we can.”
Scott put forth his desire to see the community continue working toward being progressive in order to attract and retain young professionals, while at the same time appealing to older residents, through the installation of additional bike paths, walking paths, green initiatives and a future smoke-free campus.
City Commissioner and longtime resident Patrick O’Bryan said the President’s Summit was the type of bridge building that is key to developing the kind of Pittsburg they all want, and that working hand-in-hand, pulling in the same direction, will make it happen.
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