Dear Alumni and Friends,
It was Eleanor Roosevelt who said “with the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.â€
As our campus community embarks on the launch of Imagine 2023—the university’s next five-year strategic plan—this summer, we have challenged each other to use our collective strength to create opportunities and bold ideas that will serve our land-grant mission and quite literally make the world a better place.
Grey Waletich was a student a few years ago in an Interior Design 352 class. Her story is told in this edition of STATE Magazine of how a class project led to students designing innovative products that encourage investigation-based learning and open-ended play. The project ultimately led to a collaboration with Kodo Kids, a Bloomfield, Colorado, company that designs products and toys, and the Fishback Center for Early Childhood Education on the SDSU campus.
Today, that project has resulted in a revolutionary product line, career opportunities for students and further collaboration between Kodo Kids, the university and the early childhood education center. Together, the bold idea that came from a class project is changing the way young children learn in the classroom.
Opportunities can also come from places and people least expected, as told in the story of Sam Dupris and his effort to reach Native American high school students. Sam is not an alum of SDSU, but is a member of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. After a long and distinguished career in aviation, he is committed to sharing his story and finding ways for more Native children in South Dakota to pursue a career in aviation.
Sam contacted our aviation program after seeing a story on a local news broadcast, asking if we would visit Cheyenne-Eagle Butte High School. A team of instructors led by Cody Christensen took the flight simulator and multiple planes in May, impacting hundreds of students with hands-on learning experiences for the day.
As our university looks toward the future, it is these types of stories, bold ideas and opportunities that will shape future generations of students, develop the necessary research and knowledge to solve the critical challenges of today and make South Dakota State University a place of innovation.
Thank you for your continued support of our university. We are excited for the future and the journey through Imagine 2023 that will transform our university and the world around us!
Go Jacks!
Barry H. Dunn
President, South Dakota State University
