Community Voices

His entire life, Brad Rackers has wanted two things — to teach and to be on stage. His drive to pursue and live his passions are paying off as the theater director at Lee's Summit West High School was named last year as the district and Kansas City regional Teacher of the Year. Just before the start of the 2017-2018 school year, Rackers sat down with Nick Parker to talk about his passions and teaching philosophies.

Courtney and her mother Debbie Stoddard join Link 2 Lee's Summit's Community Voices podcast to talk about their third-generation family business, Budget Blinds, and the family's commitment to serving the community in which live, work & play.

He moved to Lee's Summit in 1999, but its been the past few years where Andy Lock has really made his mark on the Lee's Summit community. Lock and his business partner own and operate six businesses in the Kansas City area, four in Lee's Summit. The burgeoning culinary empire began with the rehabilitation of a former Everett's steak house into the now de facto clubhouse for the Lakewood neighborhood — Summit Grill. One year ago, a rehab of downtown Lee's Summit's historic Arnold Hall led to the opening of Third Street Social, In the past four months, the company has added Lakewood Local and Summit Cellar and Spirits. Andy sat down with Nick Parker to talk about his passion for the restaurant business and give a little insight into the role he hopes his businesses play in the community.

As the great recession of the early 2000s was taking hold, the freelance graphic artist found herself losing her largest source of income and wondering what she would to keep providing for her family. The answer, it turned out, was returning to a dream job she thought would never be attainable. Today, Garrett is a master painter, known across the country and even throughout the world. From her home in downtown Lee's Summit, she has found her calling, her niche, and her way to reach across oceans with her art.

Music has been at the center of Jenelle Johnson's home since before the Lee's Summit North senior was born. Her parents, Alex and Jerilyn are both musicians who find themselves singing or playing instruments at every opportunity. But love of music was just a genetic passing to Jenelle and her two siblings, Jessica and Justin, it was a purposeful and physical effort made from the very beginning.