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Reinventing the Community College: Terry Calaway

Nick Haines talks to Dr. Terry Calaway about his five year tenure as the President of Johnson County Community College and about his plans for his approaching retirement.

We begin this week with a question: Which is the largest institution of higher education in our bi-state area? Is it KU or MU? You might be surprised to learn that it’s actually neither.

With more than 50,000 students enrolled in credit and continuing education classes each semester, Johnson County Community College is now the largest institution of higher education in either Kansas or Missouri.

And after 5 years at the helm, JCCC’s President Terry Calaway has announced he is retiring. Along with increased enrollment, 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 the college is also getting national attention for its culinary program which will open its own culinary academy and innovative demonstration kitchen next year. Dr Calaway sat down for a conversation with Nick Haines.

Wide aerial shot of the Johnson County Community College campus

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Do You Want to Be an Engineer?

Students at Santa Fe Elementary and Dobbs Elementary are learning valuable lessons about engineering from their mentors at Black & Veatch.

KCPT has partnered with Black & Veatch to bring a mentoring program to the Hickman Mills School District on engineering.  The program which goes through December 11 has put an engineer in the classroom each week mentoring fifth grade students at Santa Fe Elementary and Dobbs Elementary on a variety of topics from carbon footprint, water treatment, where electricity comes from, what energy is and why it is important.  The mentors have also engaged the students with fun activities relating to the topics.  The goal of the program is to open up the world of engineering to the students and encourage them to consider a career path in the future.

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P.T. Celebrates Family Literacy Night at Meadowmere Elementary

Students enjoy activities highlighting literacy at Meadowmere's Family Literacy Night.

Students at Meadowmere Elementary School attended Family Literacy Night on Tuesday evening, November 13.  The event was to highlight literacy and celebrate reading.  P.T. had fun posing for pictures, encouraging students to read and handing out reading activity booklets.

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Enthusiasm Is The Electricity of Life: Gordon Parks

We share some highlights from the Gordon Parks Centennial Celebration at the Gem Theater including a musical tribute performed by students from Gordon Parks Elementary School.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Gordon Parks who is recognized as one of the most important photographers of the 20th century.

While the Fort Scott, Kansas native is best known for his iconic images in Life magazine, Parks, the youngest of 15 children was also a novelist, co-founder of Essence Magazine and a successful filmmaker.

When he passed away in 2006, he was eulogized as a true Renaissance man who constantly pushed boundaries and broke stereotypes.

Sign which reads Gordon Parks Elementary

Over the weekend here in Kansas City, Gordon Parks Elementary School threw a centennial celebration to honor the trailblazing artist at the historic Gem Theater. And Parks’ daughter, Toni Parks, flew in from London to join the musical salute to her late father.

At the Gem Theater, students from Gordon Parks Elementary performed the prologue of a new musical honoring the life of the school’s gifted namesake. The world premiere will be next June and the school hopes to perform it every year.

While we remember Parks’ photographs, he was an accomplished novelist and poet, and director of countless films, including the 1969 drama The Learning Tree which recounts his own experiences of racial discrimination growing up in rural Kansas.

Gordon Parks sitting on a couch in a tuxedo

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