HERE THEY COME TO SAVE THE DAY...it went viral and you may have seen it but it bears repeating. A group of six years olds in a Daisy Scout Troop from East Ponca City (okay...Tulsa) went to the White House to demonstrate their page turning invention. This was part of a Junior First Lego team, which came out of the First Robotics program. You may remember First Robotics because Po High featured the first (and for several years only) First Robotics Teams in the state until everyone else woke up. Anyway, the girls call themselves the "Mighty Girls" and in keeping with this well-deserved name, they wore their capes in to meet the President and show off their invention. They designed and built a device that helps people with different abilities (we used to use the term disabilities) who have difficulty turning the pages of books (we used to call them "books"). It uses rubber Lego tires to grab and turn the pages. One of the mini-heroes had a grandmother who had difficulty turning pages so the girls went to work. Apparently no one told them the myth that girls are not supposed to be good at science, math and engineering.  After this achievement, perhaps no one ever will.

THIS WEEK...Had its ups and downs to be sure. You may have heard about some local companies in the oil business that had lay-offs as a result of the price of oil (a "down"). You may have heard about the settlement in the Continental Carbon issue (an "up," see story below). There were also companies continuing to hire (expand...that's an up) which goes to the whole thing that if you're in oil right now, you're down. If you're not in oil, you're up. It's obviously not that simple but that's the norm. You might think that the folks that get laid off in the oil industry should just move right into the other available jobs. Nice try. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. We've talked about aligning skills with open jobs and suffice it to say that this is a big part of that. There are also those who believe they will be recalled once oil rebounds. Here's hoping. In order to continue the whole industrial diversification process that started in Ponca City in the 1990's, PCDA spent some time this week reaching out to business services companies and other manufacturers that might want a new building or location for a variety of reasons. This is like police work without the danger or the guns. It takes a lot of looking around, a lot of talking to people, a lot of investigating and a lot of shoe leather until the match is made. Slogging is what PCDA does best and let the slogging continue.  

STEPPING UP...Doing great things and being recognized does help with economic development. PCDA was thrilled to learn this week that the Po-High High Steppers won four national championships at a national competition in Texas.  This puts Ponca City in a very favorable spotlight and highlights the quality of students (and their parents) and schools in Ponca City.