Published in the Independence Daily Reporter March 2020
Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas
I first met Kansas Secretary of Commerce, David Toland, way back in 2010 when he and a woman named Amy Biel were making the rounds in Southeast Kansas launching a health initiative. We needed a health initiative and still do today. He had a lot to do with the initiation of Thrive Allen County until after the last gubernatorial election when he took his new position in the Governor Laura Kelley’s administration.
[Bold] Leadership Kansas Panel Discussion
In the last few years, I’ve had the privilege of being invited to be part of a panel discussion in Pittsburg before each year’s class of Leadership Kansas, community leaders from across the state. The purpose of the Pittsburg panel was to discuss the state of economy and health in southeast Kansas and what we were doing about it. The panel was usually David, speaking about Thrive Allen County, Heather Morgan speaking about Project 17 and me speaking about Fab Lab ICC. This year, organizers had to find a substitute for David as he was too busy in his new position.
I recently heard that David had said nice things about the Lab at an economic development meeting in Pittsburg I wasn’t able to attend. I sent him a note thanking him for the compliment, one thing led to another and I was able to set up a meeting in Topeka with him and lieutenant governor Lynn Rogers.
[Bold] Clarifying Maker Space Potential
Both were familiar with Fab Lab ICC and maker spaces in general, but I wanted to make sure they could see that a maker space can have a special role in rural-community economic development while also having a positive effect on the entire population and people from all walks of life. You can’t convey that without pictures, so I showed them the same pictures I used for the keynote at the Chase County Annual meeting in Cottonwood falls last January. Jenn Laird, from Cottonwood Falls, attended our Maker Space Boot Camp the prior September and caught fire to start a maker space in Chase County. Our pictures helped tell the Chamber crowd the story of what a maker space could mean for them.
Our images show how we got started with an entrepreneurial mindset. We show images of some of our equipment but more importantly, we show the kinds of people that use the Lab; entrepreneurs, small business owners, challenged youth, gifted youth, men, women, and children young and old. We show how we’re changing the mindset and learning models. We tell how we show kids in poverty that they can have a very different future than perhaps they’ve been led to believe.
As I spoke, I saw David write a note on his handout “start with the youth.” In the middle of the presentation, with the youth and project on the screen, he looked at me and said: “Wait, are you trying to change the culture?” I said, “Well, yes. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do.”
Restoring Original Kansas Mindset
As I left the Department of Commerce building it struck me that the pioneers who founded this state had a certain mindset. They had to in order to survive and make a living in a new territory called Kansas. They persevered and figured out not only how to survive but also to prosper. At a time when everyone thought Kansas would be a slave state, the citizens decided Kansas should be a free state. We became “bleeding Kansas” in the 1850s, fighting over the ideals of freedom, and had a lot to do with the precipitation of the Civil War. That was our culture; resilient, self-reliant, and free. In the last 150 years, we’ve lost a bit of that culture and it’s time to bring it back. My message to the Secretary of State and Lieutenant Governor? A maker space in every community in Kansas can go a long way in changing our culture and restoring that original mindset.
Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks. Archive columns and podcast at jimcorrell.com.
Jim Correll 