Southeast Kansas, Inc. held its annual Legislative Appreciation Dinner Thursday evening. Monarch Cement hosted the event, which included a social hour, dinner and three featured speakers.
It provided an opportunity for Southeast Kansas, Inc. board members to catch up with area lawmakers now that the legislative session is over.
The dinner was well attended. Elected officials included State Senator Virgil Peck, State Rep. Dale Helwig, State Rep. Ken Collins, Kansas Insurance Commissioner and Republican candidate for governor Vicki Schmidt, State Senator Caryn Tyson, State Rep. Chip VanHouden, State Rep. Ron Bryce, U.S. Congressman Derek Schmidt, and Dan Goddard, who is retiring from the Kansas House.
Republican candidate for governor Stacy Rogers and Dr. Sharilyn Ray, an independent candidate for governor, were also in attendance. Don Alexander, President of Southeast Kansas, Inc., served as emcee.
Gimmie Jo Jansonius, Kansas’s USDA State Director for Rural Development, spoke first, followed by Dr. Thomas Newsom, President of Pittsburg State University, and Kyle Page, Crossland Construction’s carpentry training instructor.
Jansonius began by reading extensively from the Declaration of Independence.
“People don’t really talk like this anymore,” she said afterward, “but here in rural America, we think like this.”
She referred to Kansans’ “pioneering spirit,” saying that residents of the state are “just different. We carry a favor on us that I just cannot explain.”
Jansonius, who was appointed to her position in May 2025, said, “I’ve experienced that in my role. When I walk into rooms, my elected officials have opened doors to me I can’t even explain, and it allows us to make progress for rural America.”
Jansonius encouraged the audience to “honor that pioneering spirit by being a pioneer yourself and going forward and maybe doing something new and doing something different.”
NEWSOM was appointed president of Pittsburg State University in June 2025. He began his remarks by highlighting that this fall’s freshman class is over 1,000 students, the largest incoming class since 2013.
Newson also provided an overview of a housing facility opening this August. The university has remodeled the Best Hotel, which opened in downtown Pittsburg in 1926. A century later, the building will be opened as a dorm for 60 students, said Newson.
Along with the Kelce College of Business, also moving to a downtown building this summer, the two developments are the latest additions to Pittsburg State University’s Block 22 project.
Block 22 has transformed Pittsburg’s downtown into a hub of student housing, restaurants, university spaces, and local businesses.
“Last year alone, Block 22 generated $2.3 million in sales tax revenue for the state of Kansas and $1.3 million in sales tax revenue for the city of Pittsburg,” said Newson.
Newson’s remarks focused on the differences he sees between transformational and transactional leaders.
