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Farm to Table: JCCC’s Center for Sustainability

Journalism and film students from Johnson County Community College show how their campus is involved in the “Farm to Table” and urban farming movement with its Center for Sustainability.

The Kansas City Star reported this week that the head of Johnson County Community College is retiring. We’re trying to book Terry Calaway on The Local Show. Along with increased enrollment during his five year tenure, Calaway is credited with bringing a lot of novel programs to JCCC which is consistently ranked as one of the best community colleges in the country.

People no doubt have heard about the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art which was added during his watch, but also, according to the article, they’ve also now got an on-campus farm. It supplies food for the campus cafe and its culinary program. And produce grown there also is sold to the community.

It’s part of the President’s big push to be more environmentally friendly including adding sustainability programs to the curriculum at the college.

As part of a new partnership of our own here at KCPT with broadcast students at JCCC, we get to take you to the farm this week.

This segment is the work of executive producer Amy Follmer and videographers Jordan Renzelman, Matt Lepley, Elizabeth Seidel, and Josh Browning.

If you would like to get your hands dirty, learn from urban farmers or lend a hand to your local farm, there is a community event on Saturday, November 10 from nine until noon. The location is the Gibbs Road Farm at 4223 Gibbs Road in KCK. Contact ami@cultivatekc.org for details.

Student working with a post hole digger in a field Student in a kitchen with fresh vegetables on display

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Finding Family for Foster Children: Extreme Recruitment

We share the story of Demaje, a boy who was trapped in the foster care system but was recently reunited with his family thanks to the Midwest Foster Care and Adoption Association's Extreme Recruitment program.

More than half a million children are currently trapped in the foster care system.
Being removed from a home and placed in foster care is a difficult and stressful experience for any child. Many of these children have suffered some form of serious abuse or neglect.

The Midwest Foster Care and Adoption Association based in Independence is going to some extraordinary lengths, including hiring private investigators, to try and locate family members who might be willing to adopt a hard to place child who might otherwise languish for years in the foster care system.

They call their program “Extreme Recruitment” and last year they found homes for 22 foster children, including a home for 10-year-old Demaje, whose mother abandoned him in Kansas City. In January, Demaje’s uncle was awarded temporary custody by Jackson County Family Court. Demaje has returned to his family in California.

The Midwest Foster Care and Adoption Association says they hope to find homes for forty children this year as part of their extreme recruitment program.

That segment was produced by Bryan Shepard at LINC, a KCPT partner organization which works to improve the lives of children and families in the Kansas City region.

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Forever In Flight: The Roasterie’s DC-3

A new landmark landed on the Kansas City skyline last week. Producer Justin Bond shows you these images of a full-sized vintage DC-3 airplane now permanently mounted on top of the Roasterie Coffee Company.

A new landmark landed on the Kansas City skyline last week. Producer Justin Bond shows you these images of a full-sized vintage DC-3 airplane now permanently mounted on top of the Roasterie Coffee Company just east of Southwest Boulevard on 27th Street. The plane, built in 1943, was used in the Berlin airlift and according to the company would still work today if you just put the engines back in. The DC-3 has been part of The Roasterie’s logo since the local company was founded in 1993.

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Fostering Entrepreneurial Spirit: Blue Valley School District’s CAPS Program

In the second part of our profile of the Blue Valley School District's CAPS program, we look at how the program not only teaches them skills but also provides entrepreneurial guidance.

Recently on the Local Show, we asked where the Garmins and the Cerners of the future would come from? We took you inside the Blue Valley School District’s 12 million dollar CAPS (Center for Advanced Professional Studies) building where the next generation of engineers and life science researchers are getting a head start while still in high school.

Believe it or not, students in the CAPS program have also created dozens of businesses and products…everything from rechargeable cell phones to a prosthetic knee brace. When the Chamber of Commerce talks about making Kansas City America’s most entrepreneurial city, is this where the next generation will come from?

Two students presenting a product while five adult mentors look on.

Lead funding of KCPT’S reporting of education issues is funded in part by a generous grant from the Kauffman Foundation and additional civic funders.

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From Concrete Jungle to Tallgrass Prairie: Paul Dorrell and Paseo Academy Art Students

Paul Dorrell of the Leopold Gallery and a group of Paseo Academy students went on a journey to the Flint Hills to learn the positive power of art. Producer Sean Holmes documented the trip from grassland to gallery.

Travel with us now to the Flint Hills of Kansas. Producer Sean Holmes recently joined Paul Dorrell of the Leopold Gallery in Brookside and a group of Paseo Academy student artists on a journey of creative inspiration.

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FRONTLINE: The Interrupters

Three “violence interrupters” in Chicago place themselves in the crossfire to stop the cycle of violence. Watch Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 8pm.

Join the local violence prevention project Aim4Peace on Thursday, February 9, 2012 for special screenings and discussions of the upcoming Frontline documentary The Interrupters. The film tells the amazing story of three “violence interrupters” in Chicago who place themselves in the crossfire to stop the cycle of violence and protect their communities. Representatives from the Aim4Peace Violence Prevention Project will be at the screenings with more information about the anti-violence work being done in our community, which is modeled after the Chicago programs profiled in the film. Screenings will take place at 9am, Noon, 3pm and 6pm at the Biery Auditorium 2400 Troost Ave. KCMO 64108. The event is free and open to the public.

Event flyer

Learn more about Aim4Peace on their website or Facebook page.

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Future Innovators of America: Blue Valley School District’s CAPS Program

Rich Miller takes us inside Blue Valley School Districts innovative CAPS program in part one of this two part feature.

Where will the next Garmin and Cerner of the world come from?

Growing entrepreneurs starts young. In the Blue Valley School District, it is starting in an innovative $12.5 million building where the next generation of entrepreneurs, engineers and life science researchers are getting a head start while still in high school.

Exterior of CAPS building

It’s called the Center for Advanced Professional Studies or CAPS. While many high school biology students are learning about DNA from textbooks, there are teens here actually extracting it from the saliva glands of fruit fly larva.

More than 500 Blue Valley juniors and seniors are getting this opportunity in a program that’s fast getting national attention Producer Rich Miller takes us inside in the first of two parts about this program.

Students watching a remote control helicopter device in action

Believe it or not students in the CAPS program have also created dozens of businesses and products…everything from rechargeable cell phones to a prosthetic knee brace.

Some of these teenagers even have patents on their products. Next week on the Local Show, we meet some of those enterprising students.

Lead funding of KCPT’S reporting of education issues is funded in part by a generous grant from the Kauffman Foundation and additional civic funders.

Students gathering on stairs in the CAPS building

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Future of the Foundation: Janice Kreamer and Tom McDonnell

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s new CEO Tom McDonnell and Board Chair Janice Kreamer sit down with Randy Mason to discuss what is ahead for one of the nation’s largest and most well-respected philanthropic foundations.

This time last year, Carl Schramm was pushed out the door as the head of Kansas City’s largest foundation, The Kauffman Foundation. Founded by former Royals owner, entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Kauffman, the foundation is not just the city’s largest, it is one of the 40 biggest foundations in the country.

It’s mission is centered on entrepreneurship and education and for the better part of the last year its board has been looking for a new leader to move the foundation forward into the future. They announced just a few weeks ago that the future best lies in the hands of former DST CEO Tom McDonnell.

He’s with us on the Local Show along with the new Chair of the Board, Jan Kreamer, who many may remember formerly ran the Community Foundation.

We also share the trailer from the documentary Something Ventured which was sponsored by The Kauffman Foundation and will be aired immediately following The Local Show on Thursday, January 10 at 8pm.

Graphic which reads Something Ventured: Risk, Reward and the Original Venture Capitalists

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Genetic Crystal Ball: Children’s Mercy Hospital’s Genomic Center

Randy Mason turns a spotlight on some of the innovative work being done at Children's Mercy Hospital using genome research which can speed up the diagnosis and treatment of critically ill patients.

This week, we start with something elemental. Genomes. They’re the mechanism by which our bodies operate. They contain all the genetic information that makes us who we are.

Ten years ago this month, scientists completed work on the Human Genome Project and since then the technology to explore it further has rapidly evolved. Last year, Time Magazine noted the genomic work being done at Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Hospital to dramatically speed up the diagnosis and treatment of critically ill infants.

Doctor looking at information on a computer monitor

Think of it as the difference between testing a patient one disease at a time versus the much broader net that genomes allow us to cast. It is an innovative example of how translational research can ultimately enhance patient care.

Media attention from the likes of Time Magazine and the Newshour is nice for Dr. Kingsmore. Even nicer was the recent $1 million grant from the William T. Kemper Foundation to help fund the Genomic Center’s activities.

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Get Ready to Write!

KCPT's 2013 PBS Kids GO! Writers Contest encourages kids to GO! Write! K-3 Graders can submit their stories January 10, 2013 - April 10, 2013.

KCPT’s 2013 PBS Kids GO! Writers Contest encourages kids to GO! Write! KCPT is once again encouraging elementary school students to stretch their creative wings by hosting the contest in the Kansas City region. For more than 16 years thousands of kids in grades K-3 have participated in this annual local and national contest. Stories can be mailed to the station or submitted online. Contest deadline is April 10, 2013. Local winners will be announced in late April and national winners will be announced in summer 2013.

Entry forms can be downloaded here.

Learn more about the contest guidelines and awesome prizes.

A panel of America’s foremost children’s authors, illustrators and content experts will serve as honorary judges for the national PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest. The 2013 honorary judges include:

 

  • Jeff Kinney: As a New York Times bestselling author, online game developer and designer, Kinney has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. His seventh book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel, is the biggest print book of 2012. His book series has over 83 million in print worldwide, translated into more than 40 languages. He spent his childhood in the Washington, D.C., area and moved to New England in 1995. Jeff lives in southern Massachusetts with his wife and their two sons.

 

  • Kate Klimo: As Vice President and Publisher of the Random House/Golden Books Group, she has been responsible for extending the Seuss brand into new formats including board and novelty books, and publishing non-fiction celebrations of Dr. Seuss’s life and works. Klimo has nearly 30 years of experience at Random House; more than 15 of them spent working on All Things Seuss. She is also the production executive of The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! Kate is the author of many books for young readers, including 12 titles in the Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library series. She has also written for young adults (The Centauriad Series) and has a new series for children, Dog Diaries, launching in January 2013.

 

  • Jarrett Krosoczka: Two-time winner of the Third to Fourth Grade Book of the Year in the Children’s Choice Book Awards, author and illustrator for sixteen published books – ten picture books and six graphic novels. He has seen his work recommended by national publications like Newsweek, The New York Times and USA Today. His Punk Farm and Lunch Lady series are also in development to be feature films.

 

  • Susan Meddaugh: Author and illustrator of Martha Speaks, the best-selling book series, as well as a creative producer of the award-winning PBS KIDS series of the same name. Susan grew up in New Jersey, studied art and illustration, and now lives in Massachusetts with her family — including her dogs of course.

 

  • R.L. Stine: As one of the best-selling children’s authors in history, he has sold over 350 million books that have been read all over the world including Goosebumps – one of the best-selling children’s series of all-time. R.L. lives in New York City with his wife Jane and his dog Minnie.

 

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