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Category: Community vitality

Joel Lovesee, Bluestem school

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

What was in your school classroom? I remember desks in straight rows, colorful posters on the wall, and a big blackboard up front. Today we’ll meet a school which has such classrooms, but also non-traditional places of learning such as a working barn and a downtown business. These innovative projects are being implemented by a school district in rural Kansas.

Bluestem Mercantile
Bluestem Mercantile

Joel Lovesee is superintendent of USD 205, which includes the Bluestem schools in Leon, Kansas. Joel grew up in Kinsley and went to Fort Hays State University where he met his wife Sonya. He became a teacher and later a school administrator. In 2008, he and his family moved to Leon where he became school principal. He was promoted to superintendent in 2013.

He takes an innovative approach to school leadership. Continue reading “Joel Lovesee, Bluestem school” →

Jon and Jenny Stillwell, Stillwell Sales   

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University. 

“Every business can use a skid steer.” That statement refers to the skid steer loader, which can be used for moving pallets, receiving deliveries, relocating products, and hundreds of outdoor tasks. Today we’ll meet a young Kansas family which has built a business in marketing these skid steers from rural Kansas.

Jenny and Jon Stillwell
Jenny and Jon Stillwell

Jon and Jenny Stillwell are the owners of Stillwell Sales, a company that specializes in used skid steers. Jon and Jenny have rural roots. He is from Scottsville and she is from Hunter. “We met at the Mitchell County Fair,” Jon said.

Both went to K-State. Jon got a degree in biology and Jenny got hers in education. At the time, Ebay was starting to grow in popularity. Jon tried using Ebay to sell some used equipment he had picked up at an auction. It went very well.

He found that buying secondhand equipment for resale was a good strategy. “A lot of it was good, store-returned merchandise,” Jon said. “You could buy those by the truckload.” Continue reading “Jon and Jenny Stillwell, Stillwell Sales   “ →

Catherine Moyer, Pioneer Communications

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Customer service. That was the role which began one young woman’s career in telecommunications. Now she is leading that same company which is serving customers’ technology needs in new and innovative ways.

Catherine Moyer
Catherine Moyer

Catherine Moyer is chief executive officer of Pioneer Communications, a rural telecommunications company headquartered in Ulysses. She grew up in Ulysses and went to college in Vermont. Her first job was at Pioneer Communications, where she worked as a frontline customer service representative.

Pioneer is one of many local telephone companies formed across rural America in the 1940s and ’50s. Some say the rural telephone business began with a farmer stringing a copper wire from one fencepost to the next. Cooperatives and local companies were formed to offer and expand service. Pioneer Communications was founded in 1950 as the Pioneer Telephone Company. Continue reading “Catherine Moyer, Pioneer Communications” →

Lettie McKinney, MC- Meat Company

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

“Connecting with consumers.” That’s a goal of many food companies, but today we’ll meet a young beef producer who has taken this idea to heart. She finds that delivering beef and communicating with families is the most rewarding part of her job.

Lettie McKinney
Lettie McKinney

Lettie McKinney is the founder of MC- Meat Company, which provides homegrown beef directly from the ranch to the consumer. The family brand, based on their last name, is pronounced “M C Bar.”

The McKinneys have farmed and raised cattle for decades in southwest Kansas since Lettie’s ancestors settled there in the 1920s. “My great-grandparents lived through the Dust Bowl and the Depression,” Lettie said. “We’re still here by the grace of God.” Today, she is part of the fourth generation on the ranch. Continue reading “Lettie McKinney, MC- Meat Company” →

Mason Barta, football family, part 3

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

During the last two weeks, we’ve learned about the Barta family and their success in Kansas football. Today, in the conclusion of this three-part series, we’ll learn about the youngest branch on this football family tree. Many thanks to K-State Sports Information and writer Austin Siegel for the following information.

From left, Brooks Barta and Mason Barta
From left, Brooks Barta and Mason Barta

Previously, we’ve learned about coach Roger Barta at Smith Center and his son Brooks Barta. Both Bartas became successful coaches. Today we’ll learn about the third generation in this remarkable football family.

Mason Barta is the son of Brooks and Tonya Barta and the grandson of Roger and Pam.  He grew up at Holton where he was coached by his father and finished his high school career as the top-ranked outside linebacker in the state of Kansas. When it came to his collegiate football career, his father’s alma mater, Kansas State University, was one of the obvious choices.

Mason Barta remembers climbing the steps of the old Vanier Family Football Complex when he was a kid. His dad seemed to know everyone in the building. After his dad renewed old acquaintances, Mason walked into coach Bill Snyder’s office for the first time. Continue reading “Mason Barta, football family, part 3” →

Brooks Barta, football family, part 2

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

High school football is a family affair in rural Kansas. On Friday nights, moms and dads, grandparents, brothers and sisters, friends, neighbors and community members gather at the high school stadium for the weekly football game. It becomes a unifying community event. Today we’ll learn more about a Kansas family with a remarkable, multi-generational record of success in high school football.

Brooks Barta
Brooks Barta

Last week we learned about Roger Barta, the legendary high school football coach who led the Smith Center Redmen to the nation’s longest high school winning streak. Not only did Roger have a great career, he also coached his son Brooks, who was a tough player and an outstanding athlete at Smith Center, a rural community of 1,665 people. Now, that’s rural.

Brooks went on to play college ball at K-State. These were the bad old days of K-State football, when the team was mired in a 27-game winless streak that would lead to the team being identified by Sports Illustrated as Futility U. But shortly after Brooks Barta arrived on campus, so did another gentleman by the name of Bill Snyder. Things began to change.

“The time and effort (that was required) probably doubled under coach Snyder,” Brooks said. Barta met the challenge of this demanding new work ethic and he saw the results. Continue reading “Brooks Barta, football family, part 2” →

Roger Barta, football family, part 1

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

There are two legendary football coaches who are retired and living in Manhattan, Kansas. One is Bill Snyder, a multiple-time national coach of the year and a member of the National College Football Hall of Fame. The other is a legendary high school football coach who led his team to the longest winning streak in the nation while coaching in rural Kansas.

“Our Boys,” a book about Roger Barta
“Our Boys,” a book about Roger Barta

Roger Barta is the retired high school football coach who set these records in Smith Center, Kansas. His accomplishments were so noteworthy that an East Coast writer spent a year in Kansas to write about them. In 2010, the book chronicling these achievements was published.

Roger Barta and his wife Pam grew up in the rural community of Plainville, population 1,903 people. Now, that’s rural. In high school, Roger played quarterback but couldn’t continue football due to injury. After graduating from Fort Hays State and earning a master’s in Georgia, he embarked on a high school teaching and coaching career. In 1987, he took his first and only head coaching job in Smith Center. Continue reading “Roger Barta, football family, part 1” →

Jacob Yingst, Schlaegel’s Popcorn

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

It was three in the morning. Jacob and his buddies were driving straight through to the K-State bowl game in Arizona, and they stopped for gas at a station in Texas. Jacob grabbed a bag of cherry-cheesecake flavored popcorn as a snack. “It was not very good,” he said. “I think I could do better than that.” Years later after college, Jacob would return home and join his family’s popcorn business where he would perfect a cherry-cheesecake recipe. That flavor and others would become part of the offerings that this business provides at Christmastime and year-round.

Schlaegel’s Popcorn
Schlaegel’s Popcorn

Jacob Yingst is manager and co-owner of Schlaegel’s Popcorn at Whiting. His grandparents, Gary and Marian Schlaegel, were dairy farmers and operated a tax accounting business. They also raised some popcorn on the farm for family use. They started giving the popcorn as Christmas gifts and selling the unpopped popcorn. Then they started flavoring the popcorn. The response was so positive that Schlaegel’s Popcorn became the family business.

Jacob’s great-grandmother had her own delicious recipe for making caramel corn. “All our sweet or glazed flavors are variations on her family recipe,” Jacob said. Continue reading “Jacob Yingst, Schlaegel’s Popcorn” →

Now That’s Rural: Alan and Carol VanNahmen, RollBedder

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

“I need to reach the stuff in the back of my truck. If only I could get to it better.” That statement could have served as the inspiration for this new innovative product which uses rollers to help truck owners access the material in their truck beds.

RollBedder kit
RollBedder kit

Alan and Carol VanNahmen are the owners of this entrepreneurial company which produces this new product for truck beds. It’s called RollBedder.

Alan grew up on a farm in southwest Kansas, attended Dodge City Community College and then Kansas State. He embarked on a career with Deere and Company which would take him across the United States and around the world – literally. Alan led initiatives for Deere and Company in France and China, for example. He later worked for a German company named Claas and at a research facility in Indiana before leaving corporate life.

Alan was also an inventor and entrepreneur. He served as a consultant on various projects such as the bi-rotor combine and the ARRO head harvesting system. As we have previously profiled, he founded the Farm Buddy company to help individual farmers advance their product ideas into corporate commercialization. Continue reading “Now That’s Rural: Alan and Carol VanNahmen, RollBedder” →

Heather Hartman, Mitchell County Strong

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

“Hungry Hungry Heroes.” Hmm, that sounds like the game called Hungry Hungry Hippos. This variation on that name is one example of the creative ways that leaders in Mitchell County supported their communities during the pandemic with a collaboration called Mitchell County Strong.

Mitchell County Strong
Mitchell County Strong

Heather Hartman is Mitchell County director of community development. A Beloit native, she had been a small business owner in Mitchell County before becoming county community development director in 2012.

“When the pandemic hit, it was scary,” Heather said. “There were projections that 30% of locally owned small businesses would close.” Heather’s office in Beloit is co-located with two other offices: the Chamber of Commerce and the community foundation. “Each of us was a separate organization, but what we did would never have happened if we weren’t all here together,” Heather said.

As shutdown orders were being issued, the three directors of these units immediately met to discuss what could be done. “Our main goal was to help these businesses and nonprofit organizations stay afloat,” Heather said. Continue reading “Heather Hartman, Mitchell County Strong” →