13 minute read
Snow College boosts economy
Snow College has served the communities in Sanpete and Sevier counties for over 100 years not only through the valuable education that students receive but also as a major employer. Students love the small town feel of the junior college, where they receive an excellent education and can make lasting relationships with area businesses and citizens. (Photo courtesy of Snow College)
Snow College boosts economy through education
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Snow College, with campuses in Ephraim and Richfield, is the largest employer in Sanpete and Sevier Counties. It is also the #1 Ranked Junior College in America as recognized by “College America.” Snow College employs 342 full-time and 813 part-time employees, including student positions.
It is hard to overemphasize the economic value that Snow College employees, families, and students have on all neighboring counties. State Representative Derrin Owens refers to Snow College as “The heartbeat of Central and rural Utah.”
From humble pioneer beginnings in 1888, Snow College has shown grit and fortitude. Facing closure during the depression, faculty members accepted perishable goods as compensation. Today, Snow College continues the legacy of its founders and remains committed to rural Utah. This entrepreneurial and community effort has produced the leading junior college in the country. Snow College President Bradley Cook acknowledges the collaborative culture stating, “We appreciate our surrounding communities and take seriously our role in economic development. Our students often comment on their positive experiences with local citizens and businesses; we are in this together!”
Area economic leaders and business development specialists share President Cook’s regard for the economic role of the college. Sevier County Economic Development Director Malcolm Nash states, “Snow plays a critical role by educating our workforce and developing the human capital needed for economic health and growth. Locally, Snow College is that important bridge from high school to education to the local workforce. Our local economy could not grow if not for the campus and its team of educators, instructors, and programs.” As someone who understands the importance of educating Snow College students, Stacee McIff, Snow College Business Department Chair, stated the following about the relationships of business leaders in the community and their effect on the outcome of our students. “Our partnership with local communities provides important benefits. Students learn innovation and passion from local business leaders. Businesses benefit from a locally educated workforce. Resources like the Small Business Development Center and the Grit Center for Rural Entrepreneurship not only serve the community but help develop the next generation of successful rural business leaders. Many of our students are eager to stay and raise families in rural Utah. Our goal is to help students feel confident that their Snow College education will help them find financial success in a place they love.”
Small Business Development Director Tim Chamberlain noted, “Our Custom Fit program through the SBDC helps to bring in $300,000 worth of training annu
ally for local companies to improve their businesses and make a positive impact on the local economy. Any business, whether a single owner or larger, can participate in this program. Continuing to function amidst the challenges of COVID conditions in 2020, we have helped 62 businesses with the projection of many new jobs to follow.” Last fall, a Business Resource Center was added to serve businesses in the region. A ribbon-cutting ceremony led by President Cook and GOED administration was held in Richfield. Craig Blake, Snow College Business Resource Center Director and Assistant SBDC Director on the Richfield campus, said, “Here at the Snow College Business Resource Center and the Small Business Development Center, we are doing all we can to promote economic development and business growth in our Six County area. We are providing resources and training to businesses and individuals that are needing to start or expand their businesses. Let us be your go-to source for all of your business start-up needs!” With 130 years serving the community, Snow College looks forward to the next 130 years with cutting edge resources for students, businesses, and communities.
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Sheep from Sanpete County were loaded onto semi-trucks to transport them to Montezuma Creek, UT; as part of “Farmers Feeding Utah” sponsored by Utah Farm Bureau. The non-profit organization was formed to help local sheep producers supply much-need food to the Navajo Nation in the Four Corners area.
Remember before coronavirus? What is next?
•Remember way back in 2019 BC, “Before Coronavirus”, when the word Corona was the last name of a friend or an adult beverage or it meant a halo of sorts around a star or the Sun? •Remember way back in 2019 BC when the economy was strong, toilet paper and Spam were in strong supply and every other shelf item and meat was easily available? •Remember back in 2019 BC when we could shake hands, unfettered, with someone and not worry if we were going to infect them or if they were going to infect us? •Remember back in March 2020 DC, “During Coronavirus”, when Coronavirus became a household term that caused all of us to worry about toilet paper and surgical masks? •Remember when new terms such as “self-isolate” and “social distancing” became a part of our vernacular? •Remember when we as a country pulled together, worked together and looked for solutions to ventilators and more surgical masks and Silicon Slopes coalesced to develop new testing software and firmware to make more Covid-19 tests available for more patients and results to those tests came back faster.
Remember when we all developed more patience for each other? ›Here we are in June, 2020 wondering what we do next. ›Here we are wondering whose fault this is, who is going to pay and why the Governor and President are not opening the business community and the recreational activities as fast as we would like.
›Here we are wondering how the government is going to rescue us from an economic collapse.
Last week I was invited to help load sheep onto a Skyline Sheep Company semi-truck. As a side note; (my goal, since I was 5 years old, is to someday become a sheep man.) With that personal background you can imagine how excited I was to be invited to help load sheep on a Skyline Sheep Company truck. But when I arrived at the location, ready to keep the loading chute full, a friend of mine explained that the sheep ranchers and Utah Farm Bureau had come together to form a non-profit organization called “Farmers Feeding Utah”. These sheep were headed to Montezuma Creek, UT; to help supply the Four Corners area with food. That experience was revela
tory and instructive to me. I also realized that experience is not unique to the sheep men. That type of behavior, that charitable generosity is culturally lived and expected as a rural way of life.
These sheep men like all residents of rural Utah don’t wait for the government, state or federal, to step in and rescue them or their neighbors in the Four Corners. They made a plan and they are still working that plan. Another friend of mine was making a routine house call to a little Hispanic family. Their phone and Internet access were not working. After this friend of mine completed the job of fixing the internet, the single mother asked in broken English, “Now what can I do for you? I have rice and beans and other food for you and your family”. Not only was this lady’s act one of the great examples of Christian behavior, but also it was again typical rural Utah behavior. We are more concerned about the state of a family’s well-being than we are about who started the problem and how are we going to punish them.
Those looking for someone to punish for this pandemic, remind me of the man that fell off a cliff and prayed to God to be rescued. Near the bottom of the cliff, his pants got caught on the limb of a tree, but the pants were torn. The limb of the tree catching the man saved him from a deadly landing. His next conversation with God was “Never mind, I can get to the bottom from here, by myself ”. His last question to God was, “Who is to blame for planting this tree right where I landed and who is going to pay for my torn pants?”
As I consider the future and how we are all going to survive 2020 AC, (After Coronavirus) and perhaps another breakout of Covid-19, aka Coronavirus, I am confident that our faith in each other and our optimism will work in our favor. I am convinced that the American Spirit is very much alive and perhaps reinvigorated as a result of this tragedy. I am, however, also cautious about our rebound. Before we rebound to the point of whiplash we need to spend some time thinking about all that we have learned and how we can apply this newly gained knowledge to continue to bless and benefit those around us.
I am convinced, economically speaking, we will be more open to “out of the box” opportunities to recover and build our economic strength. We will eventually stop wondering when and where the next government check will come.
Looking forward; I am excited to see the citizens of rural Utah develop new opportunities to work with the citizens of the Wasatch Front to economically lift the entire state. Remember; a rising tide lifts all boats, much like a rising economy lifts all residents of Utah.
Rural Utah has many assets. Some assets are known and some are yet to be discovered. I ask that you take an inventory of the assets you have available to you and develop a plan to leverage those assets into a brighter future.
The sheep farmers that invited me to help them load sheep embody the discipleship of independence and charity. They are not sitting down and demanding the federal government or the state government rescue them. They are about the business of rescuing others.
In return they are rescuing themselves.
Going forward may we all look for ways to lift each other’s spirit and economic burdens, and not worry about who is going to rescue us or whose fault the virus is or who is going to pay for this deep economic dive. As devastating as this pandemic has been to many businesses it could have been much worse if a blind eye had been turned to the Corona…virus.
Steven Lund Sanpete County Commissioner
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For over 145 years, Wasatch Academy has been a private boarding school located in Mt. Pleasant. Students come from all over the world to receive a quality education at the school. Wasatch Academy has added to the area economy by restoring buildings and employing many local residents. (Photo courtesy of Cheryl K. Brewer, The Pyramid)
Wasatch Academy: Let it endure like the Wasatch mountains
Wasatch Academy is a school that has endured and is like no other. Its history is a story of un agging persistence and tenacity that started with one determined man with a vision, courage, and conviction.
When Dr. Duncan James McMillian, a Presbyterian minister and teacher, found his way to Sanpete County in March of 1875, he met opposition from the local community and nearly went back to Salt Lake City. Fortunately, he was befriended by a group of local citizens who convinced him to start a school to educate their children. They sold him a recently built social center, called Liberal Hall, which he converted into a school and Presbyterian Church. By April of that year, Wasatch Academy was born!
Years later, in the early 1970s, the Presbyterian Church Board of Missions determined that it could no longer support the school, and Wasatch Academy nearly shut its doors. The head of the Mission Advisory Committee, which was created to review the use of church mission funds, initially recommended closing the school. But after meeting with Superintendent Roger Hansen and becoming convinced of the viability of the school mission and understanding its uniqueness and outstanding bene t to a distinct minority group of students, she changed her mind and developed a plan to convert Wasatch Academy to an independent school.
Transitions are tough and this was especially true for Wasatch Academy, but with the help of a dedicated Board of Trustees and donations from trustees, alumni, faculty, parents, and foundations, Wasatch Academy not only survived this upheaval but ourished and has become a school that provides quality education, has cutting-edge technologies, state-of-the-art facilities, devoted teachers and staff, and serves a global community of students with diverse and intriguing backgrounds, religions, and cultures.
Since 1875, Wasatch Academy has been graduating young men and women of outstanding character, dependability, creativity, and global appreciation.
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