Des Moines Register, IA
04-28-07
Iowa needs jobs to keep us here, top students say
About two-thirds of those surveyed chose out-of-state colleges.
By MEGAN HAWKINS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Financial incentives from Iowa colleges sway a few of the state's top high school
seniors to remain in-state each year, but the majority leave.
If Iowa's most brilliant young adults decide to return, most say it will be because it
is a good place to raise a family - or because good jobs have been created in the
state.
The Des Moines Register tracked down 37 of the past 50 Academic All-State
honorees to find out if they are part of Iowa's "brain drain," the trend of top
students leaving the state. Every year, 10 of Iowa's most well-rounded, highachieving students earn this Register award. The 2007 Academic All-State team
will be announced in Sunday's Register.
Of those 37 elite students, 95 percent still have family in Iowa. But 35 percent
say they aren't likely to return. About the same number said they would consider
living in Iowa. A third aren't sure.
About 68 percent of them went out of state after high school.
The issue comes up each year as Iowa bids goodbye to some of its brightest
minds. The state is expected to have a worker shortage, making it a concern for
employers. To address the brain drain, Gov. Chet Culver this month approved a
Generation Iowa Committee to help attract and retain top young workers. But will
their efforts make a difference?
"There isn't a state that doesn't want to keep the best and brightest," said Mark
Harding, director of admissions for Iowa State University, which was the
school of choice for eight of the 12 Academic All-State members who stayed in
Iowa. "No matter what the effort, students are recruited from all over the world.
You wouldn't put it past anyone for wanting to go to Harvard, and there's nothing
wrong with thinking it's one of the best."
The students, most of whom are still in college, are hungry for job opportunities.
They want business opportunities unrelated to insurance. They dream about
Iowa building its engineering industry, about making agriculture more
environmentally friendly, about creating high-tech opportunities like those that
might be available in Silicon Valley.
"Not just Gateway in Sioux City, but real, bleeding-edge high-tech companies like
Intel or nVidia or Google" are what Kevin Riggle, a 2004 Sioux Center grad now
at MIT wants.
Justin Mason, a 2003 Storm Lake grad now at Iowa State, had back-to-back
internships at Microsoft in Seattle. He plans to return. He also has spent time
studying in Mexico and traveling through Central America.
Many students said they want to explore - like Mason has.
Some say they'd leave any place they grew up.
"There is zero likelihood of me staying in Iowa," Mason said. "It's not so much to
do with this being Iowa. While I'm young, I want to take advantage of traveling
and seeing other parts of the world."
Harding said that studies show more students come to Iowa for college than
leave the state. Still, Iowa universities do try to attract Iowans, which is difficult
because the top students often have numerous offers.
Kimber Lockhart, a 2004 Ballard graduate studying at Harvard, said Iowa
benefits by luring back students who've left.
"In fact, it is only by letting us leave that we will realize why we would want to
come back," Lockhart said. "That said ... once young people have gained the
perspective associated with leaving, they become extremely valuable to the
state."
She and others said those returning would bring back ideas and valuable life
experience.
The 37 Academic All-State alumni suggested many ways to retain top students.
A few say Iowa shouldn't change - that the state must remain a safe place with a
beautiful landscape, clean air and good schools. But others say it should develop
its larger cities and create more opportunities for culture, nightlife and diversity.
In or out of Iowa, most of those surveyed feel a strong connection to home. Eric
Wilson, a 2004 Dubuque Hempstead graduate at ISU, sees the benefit of Iowa's
low cost of living and his familiarity with the place.
"I genuinely like the drastic changes in the weather as the seasons change, and
the landscape of rolling hills, and the river by Dubuque, and the smaller-town feel
of many places," he said. "I don't know whether or not I will live in Iowa in the
future. It depends where I can find a job after grad school."
Iowa is right to be concerned by the "brain drain," according to more than half of
the surveyed students.
"I think that young people leaving leads to a very negative spiral," said Jordan
Sorensen, a 2005 Guthrie Center grad now at MIT. "Iowa needs more prominent,
successful businesses in order to keep people here, but with young people
leaving, the chance of people starting and building new businesses there gets
smaller and smaller."