That Podcast in Hutch + Joe Coles
Educators, business, and local leaders team up to make a difference in Southwest Kansas
The drive from Hutchinson to Sublette is a shade over four hours. A bit longer if the wind is blowing upwards of 50 mph like it was on the day I made the trip.
A few weeks earlier, my friend and colleague Rep. Boyd Orr, from Fowler, had called to tell me about something exciting that was happening in Southwest Kansas. He thought it was something everyone ought to know about it, and the more he talked about it, the more I thought so too.
So I told him I’d love to come out and see it for myself.
I arrived at the Southwest Plains Regional Service Center to a parking lot filled with buses and cars from area schools. Inside, the conference room was packed - with more than 130 high school students in attendance. They might have signed up for the day away from school, I wondered. I expected to watch half of the students fall asleep mid-day - but not a single one did. From morning until the afternoon, the day was filled with rapid-fire discussion, peppered with a few personal growth exercises, that would help prepare students for whatever might come next in their lives.
It’s no secret what’s happening in the rural parts of the state. Since the days of the Dust Bowl, most Kansas counties have lost population. Projections estimate than in barely more than 20 years, half the state’s population will reside in the urban counties, while people, resources, and political capitol drain from rural areas. Already, a number of Western Kansas counties have returned to the official “frontier” status of less than 6 people per square mile. It’s a formula that’s unsustainable if there’s any hope in preserving a way of life, and the communities of rural Kansas.
But, as Joe Coles says, he’s not much for complaining about a problem without trying to do something about it. He, along with a group of local leaders, including Orr, educators from local high schools and community colleges, and businesses - including Davis Electric and Tom Jones with Hy-Plains Feedyard to name a few - got together to see what they could do.
“We wanted to keep these kids here,” Joe said. “We wanted them to find a career they’d love. We wanted to build relationships with the students - so that the baseball player who goes off to college might come back home.”
What they came up with was a leadership program for students, hosted by Hy-Plains Feedyard. They met with area schools, and recruited students. From that, an idea emerged to create a sort of ongoing series - broken down by industry - to showcase what sort of life a student could create in Southwest Kansas.
The initial plan would focus on agriculture, education, vocational, and healthcare. The sessions on ag and education took place last year, with the other two planned for this year.
During my visit to Sublette, I talked with a handful of students about why they were there and what they hoped to gain. I also asked them about life in Southwest Kansas. While the prevailing thought is that kids leave for college and move to some city as fast as they can - ready to leave the slow, country life behind them forever - that’s not what I found. Most of the students expressed a fondness for their hometowns. Some said they never wanted to leave - not even for college. They friends are here, their family is here. It’s familiar, and it’s safe. And they like it.
(Note - I realized I accidentally uploaded the wrong audio file here - use the first version here, and ignore the second version).
Ignore this version below
That’s why what this group is doing seems so critical - if there are students who love the area, but they’re still leaving in large numbers, it seems to reason there’s at least some misconception that they have to leave to find the sort of jobs they’d like to do.
The Showcases help reveal that there’s more to agriculture than farming and ranching. If you want to be an accountant, there’s a place for you. If you’re an aspiring chemist, there’s a place for you to. And what the program does expertly is show students that their options aren’t quite as limited as they may think. The same theme followed through the education segment - with multiple speakers illustrating for students that there are multiple ways to help their community, and engage in the educational process, even if they aren’t official teachers or educators.
Aside from the content of the speakers, and the quick pace, Joe, who facilitates the conversations and transitions, peppers in a few moments of quirkiness and exercises to keep the kids on their toes. He has them snap instead of clap, because clapping is automatic and the simple act of snapping when you normally clap stimulates thought. He asks students to walk up to a business owner and ask for a card - because it’s uncomfortable. And he asks students to state their goals for the day in front of the entire room - so they can get used to the idea of introducing themselves to strangers.
Throughout the day, presenters from area high schools, colleges, the Kansas Board of Education and the Kansas Department of Education, along with educational organizations, spelled out the opportunities for future educators in Kansas.
Along the way, students were also asked to think differently, and to consider the future.
“As you move forward, there will be people pushing against you - don’t let people push you away from your passion,” one speaker said. Another speaker shared the story of the FedEx logo - with it’s hidden arrow between the “E” and the “x” when asking students to reframe parts of their world.
“Think about something you tend to complain about and think of how to change the view. If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
He talks about a trick he uses and shares often - to replace the phrase “I have to do this” to “I get to do this.”
In the wrap up session, Joe talked to the students about three key skills to success - flexibility, communication, and leadership.
“Resilience is the greatest indicator of success, and success depends on the ability to engage with people empathetically,” Joe said. “The number one predictor of success is grit. The number one problem in schools today is loneliness. And we failed you - we haven’t prepared students to fail. The thing that has changed my life is the “dash” - the place where I ask what will you do to get better.”
Afterwards, I visited with the planners and organizers of the showcase. They shared the background of how this came together, and how the early version that began in a conference center at Hy-Plains Feedyard has grown into a student-led initiative.
Tom Jones, with Hy-Plains and an original supporter, said the showcase was “really impactful.”
“I’m more sure I want to do this now - I’m more confident in its value.”
I left the day convinced that this group is doing something really special - that they’ve taken a thoughtful, student oriented approach to talking about life in Southwest Kansas. In addition to showing them a life of possibility, they are helping students understand and navigate some of the uncomfortableness, and setbacks of adult life.
To learn more about Joe, visit https://www.joecolesconsulting.com/
To listen to my visit with Joe, subscribe to That Podcast in Hutch at Salt City Sound or on your favorite podcast streaming service.
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