Ask A Kansan

How far can curiosity take you, and how does a person find their next hometown? 

Meet Laura Crawley, the 16th president of Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas — and a reminder that big things happen in small places.

Laura's path to the presidency winds through Austin, Atlanta, Athens, and Hickory before landing in the middle of the Kansas prairie. Along the way she trained as a journalist, earned a PhD in women's studies from Emory, discovered that administration — not teaching — was her true calling, and fell in love with a poet named Charles. Together they picked Lindsborg as their next hometown, and when Charles passed away just months after their arrival, Laura chose to stay and lead.

We talk about the founding couple of Bethany — Carl and Alma Swenson — and how their immigrant resilience still shapes the college 145 years later. We get into why creativity thrives on limitation, what it means to build an "accelerator institution" instead of an anchor institution, and how a couple of high school percussionists ended up playing in the pep band the same day they showed up for a campus visit. Laura opens up about vocation, about grief, and about why there's nowhere in the world she can go where Charles is waiting — so she's staying right where the work matters.

Highlights

• A children's book about Alzheimer's that completely wrecked our hosts before the interview even started
• Laura's journey from aspiring journalist to higher ed administrator — and why "removing barriers" is the heart of the job
• Growing up calling the reference librarian with random questions because there was no internet
• How a Victorian literature professor at UT Austin named Jane Marcus sent Laura to Emory to study women's studies — a field so new she didn't even know what it was
• The intertwined story of Lindsborg and Bethany College, founded by Swedish immigrants in 1881 — and why 20% of Lindsborg businesses are still owned by Bethany grads
• Carl and Alma Swenson: the couple who built a church, a college, a town, and the Messiah Festival — and never waited for conditions to be perfect
• Why creativity is born from limitation, and how Bethany has always done more with less
• Laura's collaborative leadership philosophy: "What is OUR leadership style?"
• The pep band story: two high school visitors recruited into the band at a football game the same day as their campus tour
• Sydney's husband Milton, who followed a friend to Bethany on a whim and never left — now serving as Lindsborg's director of community development
• Frederick Buechner's definition of vocation: "where your greatest joy meets the world's highest need"
• Why a bachelor's degree still pays off — to the tune of $1.27 million more over a 40-year career
• Bethany students applying AI tools to solve real problems for the city of Lindsborg
• Laura's love story with Charles: 36 years, a poetry class at UT Austin, and a man who "threw himself into everything" in Lindsborg
• Why Laura stayed at Bethany after losing Charles: "There's nowhere in the world I can go where he is waiting for me"
• What does "Rokar Stokar" actually mean? (Spoiler: Laura thinks it doesn't mean anything — but she's open to your best definition)
• The "borg" vs. "burg" pronunciation debate that has haunted one of our hosts
• Laura's inauguration on October 24th — also Bethany's homecoming weekend
• Stories from the Hat: guilty pleasure songs, diner booths, overrated food, and Sydney's luckiest day ever

Chapters

0:00 — New Bedtime Story Hits Deep

2:52 — Meet President Laura

4:32 — Laura's Career Journey

6:02 — Growing Up Curious

8:33 — Family Roots in Education

9:51 — From Journalism to Admin

13:49 — Why Women's Studies

19:26 — Discovering Bethany College

22:15 — Carl and Alma Swenson

27:24 — Grit and Creativity Today

29:43 — Leadership and Campus Culture

31:57 — Pep Band Recruitment Moment

33:20 — Mascot Talk

34:12 — Bethany's Wider Reach

34:43 — Milton Finds Bethany

35:36 — From Student to City Leader

36:25 — Falling for Kansas

38:08 — Vocation and Purpose

39:39 — Turbulence in Higher Ed

43:54 — Bethany's Practical Value

45:00 — Laura and Charles

47:37 — Why She Stayed

52:11 — Living Through Change

53:15 — How to Engage Bethany

55:49 — Rokar Stokar

58:25 — Lindsborg vs. Lindsberg

59:09 — Inauguration and Homecoming

1:00:22 — Stories From a Hat

1:04:04 — Episode Wrap and Credits

Resources Mentioned

• Bethany College 
• The Remember Balloons
• Fili Creative 
• Forge Podcast

Learn more about the podcast at askakansan.com!

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net

What happens when you hand two podcast hosts a 20-sided die and ask them to revisit their favorite conversations from nearly 80 episodes? 

You get a highlight reel of Kansas at its most unexpected. We rolled the dice on some of our most memorable episodes and pieces, and what came back reminded us why we started doing this in the first place: Kansans have a tendency to look down on their own state, and every one of these stories proves they shouldn't.

Highlights

• A family road trip tradition of holding your breath at the state border — and the "My Cows" game where you count pasture livestock for good luck
• Episode 35 with Becky Tanner reframes The Wizard of Oz as a love letter to Kansas and explores what "home" really means
• Episode 56 with Leland Danes tackles the heavy reality of children as young as six translating adult concepts — from car insurance to cancer diagnoses — for their parents, and the resources Kansas Spanish Speakers provides
• Episode 14 with Jordan Romerman delivers the ultimate road trip advice: get off the interstate and explore Kansas scenic byways for rolling hills, chalk formations, and wide open skies
• Episode 29 with Rex Buchanan, former director of the Kansas Geological Survey, unpacks the Cimarron National Grasslands and proves Kansas is far more than flat and treeless
• Episode 9 spotlighting SB Mowing's Spencer, a Wichitan who mows overgrown lawns for free and turned one act of neighborly kindness into hundreds of thousands of dollars raised for an elderly woman in need
• Episode 62 with Jim Gray ("Beam Me Up, Kansas") celebrates the quirky side of Kansas, including the Geneseo UFO Festival, the Christmas town of Wakinni, Lucas's Garden of Eden and Bowl Plaza, and Erika Nelson's World's Largest Museum of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things
• Episode 57 with DJ Carvin reveals the remarkable life story behind the mustache — a New Yorker who found his way to Wichita and chose it as home
• Episode 51 with Claire Ludus tours the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, named one of the best space museums in the world for telling the complete story of the space race from both the American and Soviet sides
• Episode 26 with Greg Victors, the Wichita War Dancer, who showed up in full regalia and offered perspective on culture and representation the hosts never could have arrived at on their own
• Episode 60 with Tanner Johnson closes the dice roll with a story about connection — a violinist and conductor in Manhattan, Kansas, and how the podcast's mission to bring Kansans together actually shows up in real life

Chapters

0:00 — Border Breath Challenge

0:37 — Tunnel Luck and Cow Counting

2:07 — Welcome to Ask a Kansan

3:25 — Dice Roll Episode Picks

3:54 — Home and Belonging in Kansas (Episode 35 — Becky Tanner)

6:26 — Language Access and Diversity (Episode 56 — Leland Danes)

9:08 — Get Off the Interstate (Episode 14 — Jordan Romerman)

12:25 — Wild Kansas Landscapes (Episode 29 — Rex Buchanan)

14:59 — SB Mowing Neighborly Kindness (Episode 9)

17:56 — Quirky Kansas and UFOs (Episode 62 — Jim Gray)

21:01 — Wichita DJ Life Story (Episode 57 — DJ Carvin)

22:56 — Cosmosphere Space Nerd Out (Episode 51 — Claire Ludus)

25:09 — Wichita War Dancer Regalia (Episode 26 — Greg Victors)

26:56 — Connecting Kansas (Episode 60 — Tanner Johnson)

29:28 — Wrap Up and Credits

Resources Mentioned

• All Episodes of Ask A Kansan
• Kansas Tourism
• Cimarron National Grasslands
• Cosmosphere
• Fili Creative 
• Forge Podcast

Learn more about the podcast at askakansan.com!

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net

Ever wonder what keeps a small town alive when the world seems to be pulling people toward the cities? Simone Elder grew up on a family farm in Atwood, started doing economic development work in high school, and now leads an organization devoted to making sure rural Kansas doesn't just survive — it thrives. 

As the new executive director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation, she stepped into the role once held by the legendary Marci Penner and is bringing her own western Kansas perspective, entrepreneurial background, and a whole lot of what she calls "Kansas rizz" to the job. We talk about the Power Up movement — a network of 21-to-39-year-olds choosing rural by choice — what communities need to keep young families around (it turns out sidewalks and salads matter a lot), the eight rural cultural elements that help towns see themselves differently, and why Simone believes the best thing you can do when the doom and gloom gets heavy is walk out your front door and get involved in the community right there around you. Plus, Sydney's Halloween costume saga and a new dart throw that lands us in Rooks County.

Highlights

• Sydney's mom made every Halloween costume growing up — including a monster suit built from dyed green mop heads — and Sydney is keeping the tradition alive with an increasingly specific vampire bat queen costume for daughter Madeline
• Thrift stores in McPherson delivered $35 worth of Gothic vampire jewelry that would have cost $75 on Amazon
• Simone got her start in economic development through a youth board program called YCIP (Youth Community Improvement Program) in Rawlins County, which invited high schoolers to answer "What do you want to see in our community?"
• The Power Up and Go report surveyed nearly 500 Kansans aged 21–39 and found they want basics: fresh food, sidewalks to push strollers on, and a place at the table where their ideas aren't dismissed with "we tried that before"
• Simone's mailbox initiative in Wichita County gave graduating seniors a literal mailbox with their name on it as an invitation to come home — and some of them did, starting businesses in Leoti
• The eight rural cultural elements — art, architecture, commerce, cuisine, customs, geography, history, and people — give communities a framework to see what they already have
• Kansas has 625 incorporated cities, and about 75% of them have populations of 1,500 or less
• Elkhart, Kansas (Morton County) is closer to three other state capitals than it is to Topeka
• A young man in LeRoy, Kansas bought an old downtown building, repointed the brickwork himself, turned it into an Airbnb, and has a vision for a walking trail tied to local history
• Simone's car wouldn't restart at Point of Rocks in the Cimarron National Grassland — no cell service, just her and the pioneer spirit
• A new term for the movement: "Rural Curious" — urban dwellers who show up to rural programming because they want to understand and connect
• Dartography lands in Rooks County for next time — home of Stockton and some of Gus and his wife's favorite people

Chapters

0:00 — Homemade Halloween Roots

1:59 — Thrifting Gothic Jewelry

3:54 — Guest Intro

5:02 — Simone's Career Path

7:45 — Why Western Kansas Matters

10:36 — Choosing Rural Power Ups

16:05 — Taking Over After Marci

20:08 — Bridging Statewide Networks

22:19 — Gumption and Cultural Elements

24:23 — Programs Kansas Sampler Offers

27:20 — Power Ups Future

28:31 — Team On The Road

29:52 — Message To Rural Expatriates

31:46 — Rural Curious And Coming Home

32:58 — LeRoy Main Street Revival

34:34 — Point Of Rocks Adventure

36:12 — Support Kansas Sampler

37:13 — Host Reflections And Hope

38:54 — Dartography

43:16 — New Dart Throw: Rooks County

44:18 — Stories From A Hat

49:10 — Wrap Up And Credits

Resources Mentioned

• Kansas Sampler Foundation 
• Kansas Guidebook 
• Network Kansas
• Fili Creative 
• Forge Podcast

Learn more about the podcast at askakansan.com!

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net

Ever wonder what the difference between a fiddle and a violin actually is — or why Kansas has such a rich but largely undocumented fiddling tradition? 

We sit down with Derrick Doty, the Flint Hills Fiddler, a musician, historian, and music teacher based in Manhattan, Kansas. Derrick is the 2023 Kansas State Banjo Champion, a former barber in Council Grove who turned barbershop stories into historical research, and — perhaps most unexpectedly — a coffin builder. He treats us to live fiddle and banjo performances, shares the story of a John Henning banjo from 1880s Emporia that may be the first built for steel strings, and even serenades us with a Pete Seeger song updated with his own modern verses. Along the way we explore Kansas's musical history from territorial Free-Staters singing "The Kansas Immigrant" to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, the Exoduster banjo players who toured the state, and why traditional music still matters today.

Highlights

• Derrick explains the real difference between a fiddle and a violin (spoiler: it's mostly about how you use the word, not the instrument itself)
• The story of how "Flint Hills Fiddler" started as an email address and became a persona
• Derrick's great-grandfather fiddled for barn dances in Osage County, inspiring him to take up the instrument decades later
• Live fiddle performance on the podcast — a first in nearly 80 episodes
• Why Derrick uses black horsehair on his bow instead of white (it grabs the string better and costs less)
• The Kansas Immigrant: a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier set to the tune of Auld Lang Syne that became the anthem of Free-Staters traveling to Kansas
• How 12 years of cutting hair in Council Grove turned a fiddler into a historical researcher
• Derrick is the 2023 Kansas State Banjo Champion, winning with "classic banjo" style instead of the more common bluegrass or clawhammer styles
• The story of Link and Perry Lowery, Exoduster banjo players from Emporia who toured Kansas in the 1880s and '90s
• A rare John Henning banjo from 1880s Emporia with its fifth-string tuner on the tailpiece and a steel brace running through the neck — possibly the first banjo built for steel strings
• Three ensembles: Tallgrass Express String Band, Bodark (an old-time trio named after the Osage orange tree), and Grandpa Snazzy (a mandolin club recreation with a banjorine)
• Derrick builds handmade coffins — it started with a doll coffin replica from the 1850s and grew into a full-fledged side business
• A live performance of Pete Seeger's "What Did You Learn in School Today?" with Derrick's own updated verses about AI data centers and senators
• Maude Wagner of Emporia: the United States' first known female tattoo artist, born in Kansas in 1877

Chapters

0:00 — Auction Bass Case Mystery

2:14 — Today's Guest

4:01 — Meet the Flint Hills Fiddler

5:26 — Fiddle vs Violin Explained

7:03 — Kansas Roots and Learning Fiddle

10:26 — Fiddle Tradition and Dance Culture

12:47 — Derrick Plays the Fiddle

14:28 — Instrument Story and Bow Hair

18:42 — Music History in Kansas

21:18 — Barber Shop to Historian

22:53 — Banjo Champion Origins

25:19 — Banjo History in Kansas

27:01 — Banjo Performance and Gear Talk

30:47 — Teaching Roots and Routine

32:32 — Tallgrass Express Origins

33:48 — Bodark Old Time Trio

34:33 — Grandpa Snazzy Mandolin Club

36:10 — Mandolin Orchestra Revival

36:56 — Weirdest Gig Stories

38:13 — How He Builds Coffins

40:16 — Why Handmade Coffins

42:08 — Pete Seeger Song Performance

45:06 — Future of Traditional Music

46:44 — Episode Reflection

48:28 — Kansas Tattoo Pioneer Tale

52:11 — Kansas Would You Rather

54:16 — Bridge Counting Challenge

54:59 — Credits

Resources

• An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
• John Greenleaf Whittier
• Pete Seeger
• Humanities Kansas 
• Flint Hills Academy of Music 
• Tallgrass Express String Band
• Fili Creative 
• Everyday Lights
• Forge Podcast

Learn more about the podcast at askakansan.com!

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net

What happens when a kid who learned to cook crack cocaine by age five ends up as a corporate executive in small-town Kansas? 

Our friend Rafael Mendez sits down to share one of the most remarkable personal journeys we've ever heard on this podcast. From a childhood in Miami shaped by the drug trade, foster care, and a serious criminal charge as a teenager, Rafael found an unlikely lifeline through college at Kansas Wesleyan — a place he'd never heard of and almost didn't stay at. He opens up about the people who refused to give up on him, the tough love that changed his trajectory, and how a background check after graduation led him to law school at Washburn. We also talk about his career in the consumer packaged goods industry, what brought him back to Salina to work at Blue Beacon, and how programs like Leadership Salina and Leadership Kansas are building networks that strengthen communities across the state. Rafael's story is a powerful reminder that the people who show up for us — sometimes when we least deserve it — are the ones who make all the difference.

Highlights

• A viral TikTok donut shop in Winfield, Kansas, kicks off the episode with a laugh
• Rafael shares his first childhood memory at age five: building a crack pipe from a medicine bottle and household materials
• His parents, Cuban immigrants who arrived during the Mariel boatlift, were deeply involved in the Miami drug trade
• Both parents went to prison, and Rafael and his siblings entered the foster care system — an experience he describes as financially exploitative and abusive
• Rafael was arrested at 16 and charged as an adult with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer
• A friend's mother visited him in jail, helped with his legal case, and personally funded applications to roughly 80 colleges
• Kansas Wesleyan was the first school to call — Rafael had never heard of Salina and almost didn't stay
• Jane Anderson delivered what Rafael calls "the biggest white lady lecture" he'd ever received — and his GPA never dropped below 3.5 after that
• He was elected student body president and helped secure record funding for student clubs
• A criminal background check became a persistent obstacle after graduation, prompting Rafael to pursue law school
• He bombed the LSAT but was accepted to Washburn through the CLEO (Council on Legal Education Opportunity) program — a Thurgood Marshall initiative
• Despite interest from a top-10 law school (Iowa), Rafael chose Washburn out of loyalty to those who took a chance on him
• After law school, he built a career in the consumer packaged goods industry, including a stint at Tillamook
• He and his wife Renee felt called back to Salina six years ago to join Blue Beacon
• Leadership Salina (class of 2021) helped him build a professional network from zero after returning to Kansas
• Leadership Kansas took him to communities across the state, from Garden City's dairy farms to Big Brutus in Pittsburg
• Rafael wrote and submitted a proposal — without consulting anyone — to bring a Leadership Kansas session to Salina for the first time
• His core message: it's all about relationships, and surrounding yourself with the right people

Chapters

0:00 — TikTok Donut Shop Find

1:07 — Kansas Accents And Ike

2:12 — Guest Intro

3:51 — Meet Rafael Mendez

4:33 — From Miami To Kansas

6:39 — Cuba Roots And Miami

9:35 — Foster Care And Arrest

13:11 — College As A Lifeline

15:02 — First Days In Salina

18:02 — Grace And Giving Back

22:11 — Wesleyan Changed Me

29:26 — Background Checks And Law School

32:36 — Bombing the LSAT

33:55 — CLEO Summer Law Prep

35:30 — Choosing Washburn

36:46 — Miami Career Detour

38:14 — Back to Salina

40:29 — Leadership Salina Network

44:15 — Leadership Kansas Tour

49:55 — Salina Session Proposal

55:11 — Relationships Matter Most

58:16 — Contact Rafael and Wrap Up

Resources Mentioned

• Ike's Donut Shop
• Kansas Wesleyan University — kwu.edu
• Washburn University School of Law —https://www.washburn.edu/about/index.html
• Blue Beacon — bluebeacon.com
• Smoky Hill River Festival
• Jane Anderson / Friends of the River Foundation —https://www.smokyhillriver.org/
• CLEO (Council on Legal Education Opportunity) —https://cleoinc.org/
• Tillamook— tillamook.com
• Leadership Salina — https://www.salinakansas.org/leadership-salina.html
• Leadership Kansas — https://leadershipkansas.org/
• The Cilantro Diaries by Tommy Espinoza
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Learn more about the podcast at askakansan.com!

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net

How do you convince authors, budget-strapped nonprofits, and thousands of book lovers to show up in one place on the same Saturday? We sat down with the woman who has to figure that out every single day.

This week we're joined by Lara Avery, Executive Director of the Kansas Book Festival and published author of romance novels including The Year of Second Chances and Purple Hearts (adapted into a movie). We get into how she landed the job, why she doesn't send authors too many emails, what a "book parade" actually is, and why she thinks everyone — audiobook listeners included — counts as a reader. We also wander into Dungeons & Dragons character work, Horcruxes as a metaphor for creative legacy, and the ongoing debate about how Orcs reproduce.

Highlights

• A fast food employee who is deaf handled Gus's order entirely through writing — a small moment that stuck with him
• Lara explains her unconventional path to authorship, writing for a company (Alloy) that also produced Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries
• Why she calls herself a "listener" rather than a traditional reader, and her love of audiobooks
• Details on this year's Kansas Book Festival: 69 authors and moderators, a first-ever romance panel, keynote Ben Lerner, and a brand-new book parade
• Her philosophy for working with authors: minimal, respectful communication instead of over-formal outreach
• A moving conversation about what writers "leave behind" in their work, and why she thinks people should treat their attention and time as more valuable
• A deep dive (sorry, had to sneak it in only once!) into how to write distinct character voices — starting with diction, not psychology
• The Dartography segment uncovers the story of John Brown's 1859 rescue of 11 enslaved people near Holton, known as "The Battle of the Spurs," plus the history of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Reservation and Minnie Evans's fight to preserve tribal recognition in the 1950s

Chapters

0:00 – Fast Food Kindness

2:13 – Meet Lara Avery

3:41 – Author Life and Day Jobs

4:49 – Romance Books and BookTok

9:02 – Kansas Roots and Audiobooks

11:49 – How She Became a Writer

15:17 – What Is Kansas Book Festival

17:40 – Parade, Food and Perks

20:13 – Leading Authors and Logistics

26:50 – Festival Date and Panels

27:51 – Dungeon Master Character Talk

28:59 – Crafting Character Voices

31:00 – Diction First, Psychology Later

32:01 – Orc Lore Detour

32:51 – Creative Horcruxes and Legacy

36:36 – Attention Economy vs. Reading

40:10 – Books as Shared Imaginary Space

41:20 – Raising Readers at Home

45:30 – Kansas Stories and Festival Mission

49:07 – Support the Festival: Donate

50:42 – Dungeon Master Aftershow

52:34 – Dartography: Holton History

59:16 – Prairie Band Potawatomi Story

1:02:55 – Holton Telescope Surprise

1:04:14 – Next Dart and Wrap Up

Resources Mentioned

• Kansas Book Festival — kansasbookfestival.com 
• Red Fern Booksellers (Salina)
• Libro.fm
• The Year of Second Chances by Lara Avery
• Purple Hearts by Tess Wakefield
• Harriet the Spy
• Kansas Authors Club
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 
• Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
• The Tattered Cover bookstore (Denver)
• Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Learn more about the podcast at askakansan.com!

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net

Sometimes the best things hide in plain sight. If you didn’t know, Kansas was once an ocean, and a huge chunk of that history is still alive at Cheyenne Bottoms — the largest wetland in the interior United States. We sit down with Curtis Wolf, director of the Kansas Wetlands Education Center, who breaks down what actually makes something a "wetland," why this 41,000-acre basin is a lifeline for migrating shorebirds traveling thousands of miles between South America and the Arctic, and how decades of careful management keep it thriving. We also swap stories from our own family trips out there, talk monarch butterfly tagging, and wrap things up with another round of Dartography.

Highlights

• Curtis explains the three technical requirements for a true wetland: the right soil, the right plants, and seasonal water.
• Cheyenne Bottoms is a 41,000-acre basin and the largest wetland in the interior U.S. — yet less than 1% of the Kansas landscape qualifies as wetland.
• The Kansas Wetlands Education Center opened through a partnership between Fort Hays State University, the Department of Wildlife and Parks, the City of Great Bend, and Barton Community College, funded in part through a KDOT mitigation grant.
• A Hudsonian Godwit tracked by researchers flew six days straight from Chile to Cheyenne Bottoms without stopping.
• One square meter of mud at Cheyenne Bottoms can hold up to 65,000 bloodworms — a key food source fueling migrating birds.
• The Center hosts around 700 programs a year, including a Second Grade Wetlands Day, summer day camps, Turtle Tots for preschoolers, and stargazing nights during the Perseid meteor shower.
• The annual Butterfly Festival features monarch tagging tied to the Monarch Watch program, plus a honeybee demonstration hive and seed bomb crafts.
• Monarchs migrating through Cheyenne Bottoms in the fall are actually the fourth generation removed from the butterflies that left Mexico that spring.
• Cheyenne Bottoms is managed in nine separate pools with a dike and canal system pulling water from the Arkansas River and Walnut Creek to maximize water availability for wildlife.
• The Nature Conservancy manages over 8,000 additional acres of the Cheyenne Bottoms basin alongside the state's 21,000 acres.
• Admission to the Wetlands Education Center is free.
• Dartography lands in Haskell County, home to Sublette, possible ties to the 1918 Spanish flu, and a starring role in Donald Worster's Dust Bowl history.

Chapters

0:00 — Pen Disaster

1:30 — Wetlands Episode Intro

2:19 — Visitor Center Photo Tour

4:12 — Barton County Side Trip

6:11 — Meet Curtis Wolf

7:58 — What Is a Wetland

9:56 — How the Center Began

13:25 — Why Wetlands Matter

16:12 — Inside the Building

22:39 — Wildlife and Bird Migration

27:52 — Education Programs Highlights

29:12 — Stargazing and Camps

30:21 — Turtle Tots and Programs

30:49 — Butterfly Festival Spotlight

32:07 — Monarch Tagging Explained

33:16 — Migration Generations Story

35:33 — Festival Activities Rundown

36:18 — Birds' Impact on Wetlands

38:35 — Managing Cheyenne Bottoms

41:11 — Nature Conservancy Partnership

42:09 — Kids in the Wetlands

45:06 — Visit and Stay Connected

46:33 — Host Takeaways and Birding

49:24 — Dartography: Sublette and Haskell

54:31 — Next Dart: Northeast Kansas

55:33 — Kansans in the Wild Shoutout

56:55 — Final Credits and Signoff

Resources Mentioned

• Fisher Space Pen
• Kansas Wetlands Education Center (Cheyenne Bottoms, near Great Bend, KS)
• Sunflower Summer app
• Monarch Watch
• The Nature Conservancy
• Quivira National Wildlife Refuge 
• Audubon of Kansas
• Kansas Tourism's Wetlands and Wildlife Byway
• Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s by Donald Worster

Learn more about the podcast at askakansan.com!

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net

Everyone assumes car people grew up under the hood with grandpa. This guest didn't — and he might be the best in the business anyway. On this episode, we sit down with Matthew "Matt" Miller-Wells, Associate Director of Automotive Studies at McPherson College, to talk about how a '68 Beetle and a lot of video games turned into a career restoring some of the rarest vehicles on the planet. We get into what it's really like inside the only four-year vintage automotive restoration program in the country, the wild story behind building a car museum from scratch in Salina, and how a student-restored 1953 Mercedes ended up placing second in class at Pebble Beach.

Highlights

• Matt's automotive obsession traces back to a family '68 Volkswagen Beetle and a Herbie the Love Bug replica bought while stationed in Germany.
• McPherson College is the only school in the U.S. offering a four-year Bachelor of Science in Vintage Automotive Restoration Technology, started in 1976 by Smokey Blue.
• A feature on Jay Leno's show helped grow the program from a small two-year technical track into a full four-year degree.
• About 98% of McPherson grads land a job within six months of graduation, with many landing internships and offers well before commencement.
• Career paths extend far beyond the shop — alumni now work in insurance (Hagerty), auctions, social media/marketing, and even GM's heritage and design divisions.
• Matt spent five years building The Garage museum in Salina from the ground up, including VR welding/painting simulators and rotating exhibits like an all-yellow-car show.
• The college's "Path to Pebble" project — a student-restored 1953 Mercedes 300S Cabriolet — placed second in class at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 2023.
• McPherson is reviving its T Build Team, where students assemble a Model T from parts to a running car in minutes.
• The college offers numerous scholarships (including from the Model T Ford Club, SEMA, and the Piston Foundation), and over 40% of the class of '26 graduated debt-free.
• McPherson's annual car show (first weekend in May) draws close to 500 cars and effectively shuts down the town.

Chapters

0:00 – Car Show Photos

3:30 – Meet Matt Miller-Wells

4:42 – Military Roots & Moving Around

5:60 – Falling for Volkswagens

8:10 – Starting at McPherson

9:49 – Building The Garage Museum

14:44 – Making Car Museums For All

17:04 – McPherson Program Explained

22:48 – Careers Beyond The Shop

27:27 – Bringing Back the T Build Team

31:56 – Community Support & Scholarships

33:07 – Parking Lot Rebuilds

33:38 – Car Community Support

34:16 – Scoring a Parts Haul

35:38 – Young Enthusiasts Thrive

36:11 – Scholarships and Debt

37:14 – Path to Pebble

39:14 – Concours Level Details

40:48 – Pebble Beach Triumph

42:58 – Monterey Car Week

45:25 – Program Future & Tech

47:20 – Visit and the Annual Car Show

49:05 – The Hearse and Other Projects

51:42 – Host Wrap-Up and Thanks

54:10 – Kansas Car History Segment

1:02:53 – Final Sign-Off

Resources Mentioned

• McPherson College Automotive Restoration – Instagram (@mcautoresto)
• Hagerty Classic Vehicle Insurance
• SEMA
• Piston Foundation
• Model T Ford Club of America
• Newspapers.com

Learn more about the podcast at askakansan.com!

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net

Kansas State University touches all 105 counties in this state — training the veterinarians who protect our livestock, the biomanufacturers building tomorrow's jobs, and the students who choose to stay and build their lives right here in Kansas. On this episode of Ask a Kansan, Gus and Sydney sit down with Dr. Richard Linton, president of Kansas State University, to talk about what it really means to lead a land-grant institution built to serve every corner of the state. We get into the mentors who shaped him, the napkin sketch that mapped out his entire career decades before he became a university president, why athletics might matter more in Manhattan, Kansas than almost anywhere else in the country, and the story of how he and his wife once snuck onto campus incognito before he ever took the job. We close out with his hopes for what Kansas and K-State will look like 100 years from now.

Highlights

• Dr. Linton's path from food microbiology at Virginia Tech to university leadership, shaped by mentors like Dr. Merrill Pearson and Randy Woodson
• K-State's scale: over 21,000 degree-seeking students, three campuses (Manhattan, Salina, Olathe), and engagement across all 105 Kansas counties
• A breakdown of what a university president's week actually looks like — "friend-raising and fundraising"
• Major initiatives shaping K-State's Next Gen strategic plan: biomanufacturing, water resource management, and nuclear energy
• The origin and meaning of "land-grant university," and what "next-generation land-grant" means for K-State today
• The value of a K-State degree, explained through three numbers: 81% financial support, 97% job/grad school placement, 67% above-average starting salaries
• Community college partnerships (Dodge City, Garden City, Manhattan Technical College) and support for first-generation students
• The "brain drain" challenge — why Kansas keeps roughly 75% of in-state students but only 40–45% of out-of-state students
• Why athletics matters so much to K-State's economic impact ($2.3 billion total, $486 million from athletics) and student enrollment
• The National Agro and Biodefense Facility (NBAF) and K-State's unique BSL-4 biosecurity capabilities
• The story behind the $260 million agricultural initiative — raising $84 million in four months after 90% of people called the goal impossible
• Dr. Linton's own education story and the mentors who shaped his career
• How K-State's campus culture stood out to Dr. Linton and his wife before he even took the job
• His vision for Kansas and K-State 100 years from now

Chapters

0:00 – First K-State Game Memories

0:53 – Madeline Meets Purple Pride

1:55 – Welcome to Ask a Kansan

4:44 – Meet President Rich Linton

5:24 – Mentors and Food Science Path

7:32 – From Research to Administration

11:43 – K-State Scale and Reach

14:48 – A Week in the President's Life

18:59 – Community Listening and Initiatives

21:22 – Next-Gen Land-Grant Explained

26:15 – Biomanufacturing Defined

27:39 – Value of a K-State Degree

31:59 – Community College and First-Gen Paths

33:52 – Brain Drain and Keeping Kansans

34:43 – Keeping Grads in Kansas

35:50 – Jobs and Economic Pull

36:50 – Athletics vs Academics

38:04 – Why Sports Matter

41:51 – A President as Fan

43:32 – NBAF and Biosecurity

45:42 – Next Gen K-State Plan

49:11 – Ag Initiative Fundraising

52:18 – Education and Mentorship

55:10 – K-State Culture Story

59:18 – 2126 Vision and Legacy

1:01:13 – Host Wrap and Takeaways

1:02:58 – Subscribe and Support

1:03:59 – Final Thanks and Goodbye

Resources Mentioned

• Kansas State University

Learn more about the podcast at askakansan.com!

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net

What happens when an entire education system hits a moment of collision — new leadership, new laws, and old habits all colliding at once? On this episode, we sit down with Cathy Hopkins, chair of the Kansas State Board of Education, to find out. From accreditation reform to the fight over cell phones in classrooms, Cathy pulls back the curtain on what's really happening inside Kansas schools right now — and why she believes the state is at a genuine turning point. We talk through the science of reading, why cursive handwriting is making a comeback, how one small district's cell phone policy quietly cut discipline problems in half, and what it actually takes for a rural community to rally around its school. Cathy also opens up about her own path — six kids, a stint away from Kansas that only confirmed it was home, and a run for the local school board she lost by just five votes before landing on the state board altogether.

Highlights

• Cathy represents District 5 — 44 counties across western and northern Kansas — and breaks down how Kansas's 10 board districts are drawn around student population, not geography.
• Kansas has nearly 500,000 K-12 students, with wildly different district sizes — from under 100 students in some rural four-day-school districts to 45,000+ in Wichita's District 8.
• The "science of reading" and the shift from balanced literacy to structured literacy, including a new state requirement that elementary teachers and reading specialists be trained in structured literacy by July 2028.
• What the State Board of Education actually does: accreditation, teacher licensure, curriculum standards, and high school graduation requirements — while emphasizing local control.
• KESA (Kansas Education System of Accreditation) has shifted from a compliance-driven model to a support-driven school improvement model built around four fundamentals: structured literacy, standards alignment, balanced assessments, and quality instruction.
• The new "bell to bell" cell phone ban law, and Cathy's on-the-ground findings from talking to districts that banned phones early — including a near 50% drop in behavior issues and a surprise uptick in library book checkouts.
• A "Blue Ribbon Task Force" on screens met for over a year, gathering input from legislators, teachers, parents, and students before issuing recommendations.
• Cursive handwriting is officially coming back into Kansas standards, tied to research on how handwriting supports reading comprehension and brain development.
• Community involvement stories, including the Farm to Plate initiative connecting local farmers/ranchers with school lunch programs, and a district that saw a wave of community support after clips of a board meeting went viral on social media.
• Cathy's call for a "better narrative" around education amid a wave of upcoming leadership changes: a new state commissioner, a new KBOR director, a new governor, and a new speaker of the house.

Chapters

0:00 – 1982 Wichita Time Capsule

4:25 – Meet Cathy Hopkins

5:10 – District 5 Explained

6:27 – Kansas School Sizes

8:37 – Cathy's Kansas Roots

11:42 – Leaving and Returning Home

13:27 – Joining the State Board

16:43 – Science of Reading Shift

23:35 – Board Role and KESA

26:59 – Cell Phone Ban Debate

31:35 – Screens Task Force and Local Control

35:53 – Law Enforcement and Certification

37:21 – Four Improvement Fundamentals

38:45 – Quality Instruction vs Tech

39:15 – Handwriting and Cursive Return

41:07 – Collaboration and Action Plans

44:23 – Community Involvement Examples

49:25 – Parents as First Teachers

51:59 – Host Reflection on Education

53:22 – Kansas History: School Gossip

55:54 – 1939 Classes and Film Reels

58:59 – 1900 Gossip Column Highlights

1:03:42 – 1920 Basketball and Saturday School

1:06:27 – Best Bits and Wrap-Up

Resources Mentioned

• Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE)
• Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB)
• Newspapers.com

Learn more about the podcast at askakansan.com!

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net