EDUCATION

"This is a no-brainer in my opinion," says Johnson. "It’s a win for me, the kids, parents, next year’s teacher, and school administrators."

Although adults will find the new images of Mars interesting, the hope is that Montana schoolchildren will be the audience most wowed and inspired by the experience.

"The judges were impressed with the breadth and depth of our entrepreneurship program, with 31 faculty in the Entrepreneurial Management unit and another 30 in other units whose work is directly related to entrepreneurship."

Without a strong footing in school, children also can develop self-esteem problems, which are only exacerbated if they see their parents develop a "we’re never going to get ahead" attitude.

"People have been somewhat aggressive," Rimpau said. "They’ve set the bar very high on many of these things."

At a time when high-tech manufacturing jobs are at a premium, a new technical training program by the College of Southern Idaho will put local machinists at an advantage when Hydro Fitting Manufacturing Corp. starts operations in July.

Since last spring, Mercer has led a charge to position the Montana university system as a leader of economic development in the state.