Create West Virginia

Make no small plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical plan once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our children are going to do things that will stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon, beauty.

Think big.

- Daniel Burnham, 19th Century Architect who planned the Chicago World’s Fair

Few issues are as strategic to long-term economic and social health as education. It's generally understood that our model for education - one that was designed for a transition from agrarian to industrial economy - doesn't fit our 21st century world very well. But what to do about it?

Do we start over? Try to modify existing structures? It's a difficult and emotional conversation, but one that we must have if we're to move forward as a country and a state.

Many folks have been to a lot of conferences...and well, we aren't always eager to go to another one! Sitting in boring seminars, eating bad food, listening to panel speakers without much to say...who needs more of that?

Wheeling, WV: The fourth annual Create West Virginia conference is coming to the Friendly City October 17-19, 2010. This statewide celebration of creative community building is designed to spark new economic growth in West Virginia.

The rise of many new Generation West Virginia groups across the state is one of the most positive developments in many years. For young people to finally have a place where they can connect, organize and spark change in West Virginia is exactly what has been needed for quite a long time.

You know how people have some relatives that you dont' really know that well, even though they don't live that far away? For whatever reason, you just never hung out with them much growing up.

Then one day, you actually take some time to get to know them. Maybe you hung out at a family reunion, or they took the initiative and reached out to invite you over. And they turn out to be really cool and you hit if off quite nicely.

This year's West Virginia Day conversation topic from Jason Keeling and his A Better West Virginia blog is "Networking for a Better West Virginia."

Networking is defined as "the cultivation of productive relationships." Communities seeking to renew themselves to thrive in the new economy must embrace networking as a core skill.

For the seventy-five people or so who populated one of West Virginia's most high-tech buildings yesterday at the Create WV - Fairmont/Marion County Summit, the issue wasn't whether they wanted to grow their new economy, but what still needed to be done.

Charleston, W.Va. – The World Wide Workshop Foundation, inventors of Globaloria, in collaboration with the West Virginia Department of Education and U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller as Honorary Chair, announced West Virginia’s 1st Annual Globaloria Games Competition on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (www.MySTEMgames.org).