Iowa's Quality of Life
 Jennifer Doak |
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| Rhonda Greenway 
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Nick Litwiller |
Throughout the week, we’ve learned exorbitant amounts of information supporting the fact that Iowa offers a great quality of life. We’ve heard of numerous successful Iowans that moved out of Iowa to seek opportunities but quickly returned because living in Iowa was simply…better. Whether it’s the hard-working, Midwestern work ethic or the great education system, there’s just something about Iowa that you can’t find in anywhere else. Putting more thought into it, I think it might have something to do with the affordable living, expansive job opportunities in many fields (no pun intended), lack of traffic, clean cities, and much more. What I’d like to focus on is the quality of living specific to my hometown, Ames, Iowa. Previous to moving to college in Iowa City, Ames had been the only city I’ve ever lived in, in fact, I had always lived in the same house and same room. I would attribute Ames’ great quality of life to 3 major things: ISU, the education system, and Hickory Park…no, just kidding, the third reason is family values. Iowa State University, brings a TON to the community including stability, intelligent citizens, and economic strength. With 50% of the population being attributable to a state regent university, the community is considerably more resistant to economic volatility as there will always be students and there will always be professors, so no matter what the economy does, nearly a majority of the population is insulated. Also, ISU brings intelligent people to the community who value strong education in the public school system, which in turn develops smart, high-achieving students.
The Ames Economic Development Commission summarizes Ames’ key community attributes at its website. Regardless of what they say, I believe it all boils down to the good, hardworking people that have resided in Iowa their entire lives. |
Oct 2, 2009 4:03 PM
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Leadership Iowa University is a program of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) Foundation. The program is designed to bring together two ABI Foundation programs, Leadership Iowa and Business Horizons, to create a unique opportunity for college students. Leadership Iowa University will educate, inspire and develop young leaders as the foundation for Iowa’s future economic growth and encourage their on-going involvement in local communities and the state to create a better future for all Iowans. |  |
