Morgan Dieker experienced culture shock the first time she walked into a chemistry laboratory at the University of Kansas.
The whole lab was indescribable. The equipment was different, things Id never seen before, she said.
Even though Dieker had studied chemistry at Iola High School, I didnt know what a lab could be until I got to KU, she said. That experience changed her perception about what an education can mean, she said.
Dieker graduated as valedictorian from Iola High School in 2009 while earning dual credits from Allen Community College. Though shed been at the top of her class in Iola, she soon found herself facing a steep learning curve at KU amid students who had graduated from schools that offered more advanced science programs.
Dieker grew up in Iola, where her father, Jeff, is an owner of Iola Pharmacy. That Morgan studied pharmacy and eventually returned home to join her father in business was perhaps not a total, but indeed, pleasant, surprise.
Dieker said her fascination with history and her desire to preserve her local community for future generations let to her involvement with a steering committee formed to study school facilities in USD 257.
Her initial reaction to their plight was to renovate existing elementary schools.
I like the idea of neighborhood schools. I liked knowing future children and family members would be in the same building. The sentimental part of keeping the schools was important to me in the beginning, Dieker said.
But as the committee looked at the costs of renovation, her viewpoint changed. She saw the cost to renovate would be about the same as building a new school, which would combine preschool through fifth grades under one roof. The bond proposal that voters will decide April 2 also includes options to build a new science and technology building at the high school, and a new heating, ventilation and cooling system at the middle school.
Studies showed a new elementary school could save the district between $300,000 to $500,000 each year in various efficiencies, such as reduced utility costs, consolidated staff positions and less duplication of resources like books and materials.
Seeing the money the district could save and put directly back in the classroom is exciting, she said.
The history is not with the buildings, she realized. Its with the people. People like her former chemistry teacher Marv Smith, who inspired in her a love of science in spite of the limitations of his lab at IHS. Her former teachers made the best out of the facilities they had, whatever the challenges.
But facilities matter, too.
At KU, Dieker was part of the second class to utilize a brand new, state-of-the-art facility at the School of Pharmacy. Using that lab inspired her to achieve at a higher level, she said.
She also drew comparisons to her hometown.
