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Six new plaques were added to the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame at Kansas City Kansas Community College with the induction Nov. 7 of  (from left) Rich Rasdall, Dr. Jim Gill, Lincoln High School represented by Alumni President Marceline Cooley, the Children’s Therapeutic Learning Center directed by Alan Murray, R. Crosby Kemper III and Ken Bingman. (KCKCC Photo by Alan Hoskins)

By ALAN HOSKINS, Kansan Contributor

They came to be praised – but ended up handing out their own plaudits.

Recognized for their contributions to education by their induction into the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame at Kansas City Kansas Community College Nov. 7, the Hall’s newest members dwelt not on themselves but on the contributions to education by so many others – which, in part, is why they’re Education Hall of Famers.

The ceremonies were highlighted by the surprise induction of a shocked Rich Rasdall, whose induction was kept secret until the closing minutes.

A former class president at KCKCC who campaigned vigorously for construction of a new campus in the late 1960’s, Rasdall has served on the board of the KCKCC Endowment Association since 1991 and been board president the last eight years. Recently retired as CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City, Rasdall started his career as a teacher at Wyandotte High School.

A crowd of nearly 230 guests was on hand to welcome the new inductees – longtime educators Dr. Jim Gill and Ken Bingman, Kansas City (Mo.) Library Director R. Crosby Kemper III, the Children’s Therapeutic Learning Center and Lincoln High School, now Lincoln College Preparatory Academy.

Also recognized were coaches and past members of the KCKCC Debate team, which has won six straight national championships under the direction of Coach Darren Elliott.

“People have suggested we move this event to a larger place but this gives us a chance to show off this wonderful campus, which is one of Wyandotte County and KCK’s greatest assets,” said Rasdall, who called his surprise induction one of the highlights of his life.   

Crosby Kemper also focused on KCKCC.

“Community colleges are the unsung heroes of American education,” he said. “What Kansas City Kansas and other community colleges do is so important in education but often unrecognized. Often you take the failures of K-12 programs and fight the distance relationship with four-year colleges. The role of community colleges is so important, more important than ever with what is done in the skill department and remedial part with such skill, intensity and care.”

Pointing out the success of the KCKCC debate team as well as debate teams at Kansas and Kansas City (Mo.) Central High School, Kemper noted: “If we have expectations and high standards, kids will meet those high expectations and standards. The only way we can fail is if we don’t have those high expectations and standards for ourselves.”

“I want to share this honor with hundreds of other people,” said Dr. Jim Gill, recently retired after 45 years as a middle school principal in Leawood. Thanks to his staff and attentive students with pride and citizenship, Gill’s Leawood Middle School scored a 96 composite on the Iowa Test for Basic Skills and had the highest score of any secondary school in the U.S. in the Organizational Health Inventory developed by the University of Arkansas.

A 1963 graduate of Wyandotte, Gill said one of his proudest moments came in a letter from his daughter, Becky.

“I want to tell you how proud I am. Everywhere I go when people find out you’re my dad they tell me what a great person you are and what a great job you’ve done with the schools and the kids in them. You have inspired kids and teachers and taught by example for them to have confidence in themselves and respect for others. Very few have accomplished so much. You are my hero.”

As president of the Lincoln High School-R.W. Coles Alumni Association (now Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, Marceline Cooley accepted on behalf of the school that was founded in 1865 to educate children of newly free slaves at the end of the Civil War.

“This has been a long-awaited moment for us and I can not be prouder than right now,” said Cooley. “This moment only helps me appreciate the past and understand our ancestors’ struggle for excellence in education and keeping the dream alive. We’ve seen war, depression, recession, segregation and integration and through it all we have made tremendous progress. In retrospect, we have gone from the kitchen to the White House.”

One of the largest alumni associations in the U.S., the Lincoln Association has provided more than $200,000 in scholarships to graduates and next July will hold a national alumni reunion at Crown Center.

Calling the Children’s Therapeutic Learning Center (CTLC) a “Place where miracles happen,” Director Alan Murray said it was because of the efforts of many.

“Since 1947, it has served as a place of hope for countless families faced with unique challenges of a child born with disabilities,” said Murray, “It is a place where families have found hope, where can’t becomes can, where won’t becomes will and never doesn’t exist because of the devotion of hundreds of professionals all committed to insure each child fulfill their full potential.

“They are the true heroes, the ones who make the miracles happen every year, they and the hundreds of volunteers and supporters – partners in the miracle making. My promise to you will be that we will continue to provide high quality early education and therapeutic services in the manner of this recognition.”

A member of the National Teachers Hall of Fame, Blue Valley West biology instructor Ken Bingman credited his students for his success.

“This honor is dedicated to my students,” said Bingman. “Their achievements are my inspiration and I thank them for their hard work and accomplishments. I am so proud. All the nice and neat things I’ve learned in 46 years of teaching I’ve learned from my students and I thank them. If I had to do it over, I would be a teacher. I am proud to be a teacher.”

Bingman also singled out the KCKCC Endowment Association.

“All of us want to leave a legacy that will improve the future and what this organization does is make a better place for all,” said Bingman, who called his induction into the Mid-America Hall of Fame one of the highlights of his career. “To be elected to this group, you have to be totally humbled and I am. This is an absolutely wonderful honor and a fabulous and fantastic evening.”