Does spending more per student lead to increased learning? That's a difficult one. At many schools, the faculty is being paid for its research abilities, not its teaching skills.

I'm convinced you can get great quality of education at a huge variety of schools. And that's coming from someone who is a graduate of Harvard.

I sense a difference at both schools. There's an atmosphere that learning is the most important thing.

We need schools to be areas of safety that are conducive to learning.

The whole team ran well, but with this big of a group of schools, it was not easy to make the top eight. We ran some of our fastest times to get in the top 12 to 15 teams. Some of the best Kansas City and St. Louis schools were there in addition to the best athletes from mid-Missouri. This meet was a major showcase of state-wide track talent for this early in the season.

Each year it has grown. The village, schools and businesses have been so great.