Published: May 24, 2008 07:08 pm            

MARK BENNETT: For many Wabash Valley college grads, opportunity and enjoyment lie elsewhere

TERRE HAUTE — Nearly 1,900 freshly educated, young adults picked up college degrees this month from Indiana State, Rose-Hulman and St. Mary-of-the-Woods.

Wave goodbye to most of them.

Some leave Terre Haute as an inevitable rite of passage. Others pack up because they can’t find a job in their field here. Many see not only greater work opportunities elsewhere, but also quality-of-life amenities they consider to be scarce in this town.

Well-intentioned community boosters will challenge those perceptions, and maybe even warn those departing graduates that the low crime level, safe schools and reasonable cost of living here will look pretty good to them someday.

Yet, lots of them will go anyway. Indiana colleges attract 2.21 students for every Hoosier kid who enrolls out-of-state, which gives the state’s recruitment appeal a glittering ranking of sixth in the nation, according to Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute statistics. But Indiana ranks near the bottom (30 percent below the national average) in retaining its college grads. Even among those born in Indiana, more than one-third leave the state after graduating, and 90 percent of those never come back.

The community can rationalize the exodus. It’s tempting to say, “We need to think about jobs for people who’re living here, first.” Perhaps. But fewer and fewer people are living here. The population is shrinking, while several other metro areas in Indiana — Indianapolis and Carmel, Lafayette, Columbus, Fort Wayne, Elkhart, Bloomington, Michigan City, Evansville, South Bend and Anderson — increased, at least slightly, from July 2006 to July 2007.

Exit interviews with outbound employees help reveal a business’ strengths and weaknesses. The stories behind the destinations of ISU, Rose and Woods grads can be useful, if Terre Haute would like to keep a few more.

Amelia Dasovich came to Rose-Hulman from St. Paul, Minn., and graduated Saturday with a mechanical engineering degree. This month, she’ll move to San Diego to work as a design engineer for Solar Turbines.

“I chose this job because I really like the company — [its] reputation, opportunity to get a wide range of experience in different business areas, world travel opportunities and great people,” she explained, “and the location — [a] large metropolitan area with endless things to do and see, warm weather and the beach, [a] great area for young people.”

Family also affected Dasovich’s choice. Her parents are moving from Minnesota to Arizona, which isn’t far from San Diego.

Still, “another factor was being in an area with a variety of different people and cultures, from different music venues to grocery stores that carry all kinds of foods. I am a vegetarian and have a hard time finding different food options in a small Midwest town,” she said. “Also, I really enjoy the attractions of a big city — public transportation, airport, sports teams, etc.”

When asked what local civic leaders could do to keep more grads like her, Dasovich replied, “It is hard for me to think of advice to help attract graduates to live in Terre Haute because the first thing I said when I began looking for jobs was, I refuse to live in Indiana.” She considered Indy after encountering Eli Lilly recruiters at a career fair, but she “knew it would not be a permanent location to live. An incentive to live in the Midwest or Indiana is the low cost of living and lower crime rate. But other than that, there was not any reason that compelled me to stay. Maybe if they paid a lot of money?”

Average paychecks, in general, are low in Terre Haute. The median household income here was $28,018, according to U.S. Census Bureau stats. That’s well below the state average of $41,567 and the national norm of $41,994. That’s an obstacle.

“I did not want to stay in Terre Haute because of the limited variety of jobs available for my field of study,” said Emily Ziegler, a 2008 Rose civil engineering grad. “In addition, the only firm that offered a job in my field paid far less than firms in Indianapolis.”

What’s going on?

Young professionals also want something to do with their wages.

Erin Goldstein, a 2005 Woods grad, lives in the Columbia Heights sector of Washington, D.C. The Teutopolis, Ill., native managed an afterschool drama and literacy program there, but is changing jobs and will manage a venue for the D.C. Capitol Fringe Festival. Washington’s welcoming approach to young filmmakers appealed to Goldstein, who aspires to pursue cinema or graphic design. Also, the “walk-ability” of the Columbia Heights neighborhood drew her. Shops, stores and nightspots are close by, as is the Metrorail system.

A dose of that would help Terre Haute, Goldstein said.

“I would also urge city leaders to keep supporting the arts and cultural events, because I’m continually amazed at the scope of activities and happenings here, from art to theater to music to performances,” she explained. “Having the Smithsonian and so many theaters and museums helps, certainly, but even neighborhoods take on event-planning. … I always enjoyed the cultural events and fairs that came through Terre Haute, and I always wished there were more. I like to think I’m a fairly representative college graduate.”

Like nearly all of the 412 highly sought-after 2008 Rose grads, Morgan Lollar received lots of options with his electrical engineering degree. With five “concrete offers,” he chose a job with Texas Instruments. In July, he’ll start six months of training in Dallas, followed by six more in Houston. “After that, it’s pretty much up to me,” Lollar said of his possible destinations. It could be San Jose, Chicago, Boston, Carmel (Ind.) or somewhere else.

“If [the choices] were in Terre Haute or Dallas, I would’ve chose Dallas,” said Lollar, a native of Mooresville. “I like the idea of a bigger city. I like the idea of having more opportunities to network with people. And just the opportunity to do things and having things to see.”

He also considers “kind of the crowd of people, too. There’s places in Dallas for the younger crowd, young business professionals, that you don’t have in Terre Haute.”

One area with a concentration of shops, clubs and sports or arts events would help Terre Haute, he said.

“I could probably count on one hand the times I hung out with people from ISU,” Lollar said. “It would be great if there were a common social place, in one area, that isn’t scattered over a two-mile area” as it is now.

Some may stay close

Ironically, the national recession could steer some ’08 grads toward Indiana, or at least the Midwest. Though their job market has tightened nationwide, the graduates may have better luck in the Midwest or Northeast, said Andrea Koncz, employment information manager for the National Association of Colleges and Employers, or NACE.

Midwestern and Northeastern employers intend to increase hires of new college grads by 12 percent, on average, this year. By contrast, hiring will rise a modest 2 percent in the Southeast and 1 percent in the West, because of the struggling financial services and construction industries.

The number of graduating engineers is down 2 percent, Koncz said, “so they’re in more demand.” Brittany McNeill and her fiancé, both 2008 Rose grads, accepted job offers in Indianapolis. She’s from Kokomo. He’s from Troy, Mich. His job is with a start-up company, which is something he wants to do himself someday, McNeill said. Though both received out-of-state offers, they decided that Indianapolis was more of “a city of innovation.”

Plus, “regardless of where we got our first job, we decided that when we wanted to start a family that we would like to raise our children in the Midwest, because of the good schools and the friendly people,” McNeill said.

Some haven’t left yet.

Jenny Hildebrand graduated from ISU with an archaeology degree, but is staying in Terre Haute until her apartment lease ends in three months, and is still working her local job. A Danville, Ind., native, she’s debating whether to pursue a master’s degree or work a few years in archaeology in a Western state.

“There’s not really any jobs here, for the most part,” Hildebrand said. “I like Terre Haute. I’ve enjoyed Terre Haute. But I’m anxious to get out of Terre Haute, because I want to explore other things.”



Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.

        

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