Opportunity of a Lifetime
Submitted by Debra Cummings, Fort Scott Community College Business Instructor
Rick and Shelly Mayhew provided fifteen FSCC students the opportunity of a lifetime, an all-expenses-paid trip to Omaha to meet Warren Buffett.
To learn more about Buffet go online to http://forbes.com/profile/warren-buffet
Rick, an alumnus of FSCC, through his connections with Western Insurance and Warren Buffet, received an invitation to bring students to Omaha, Neb. for a question and answer session with Warren Buffet.
The Mayhews announced in the spring of 2017 their willingness to fund another trip to Omaha. The first trip by FSCC students was in 2006.
Fifteen students made the trip. The Mayhews paid for the lodging, meals, and fuel. FSCC supplied the bus and driver.
Rick Mayhew recognized student’s needs and provided funds to obtain business attire for the session with Buffett.
Other colleges to join the session with Buffett were Columbia, Duke, Harvard, Illinois, London, Michigan, MIT, Notre Dame, NYU/Stern schools of Business. FSCC was the only community college there.
On Nov. 30, the students made the trip to Omaha by bus and met the Mayhews at Warren’s favorite Dairy Queen for lunch.
The FSCC students toured Borsheims Jewelry, drove past the Buffett residence and checked into the Downtown Hilton and Convention Center.
They met with Buffet’s daughter, Susie, and had the opportunity to ask questions about her father and the foundations she runs.
The Mayhews provided dinner and a few of the students took in some ice skating afterward. They also toured Nebraska Furniture Mart.
On Friday, Dec 1, the students attended a two-hour question and answer period with Buffet. Buffet noted the importance of FSCC being there.
Following lunch, there was a group photo with Buffett.
“I could not have asked for a better group of students,” Cummings said.
Students who did the trip were Leslie Damien, Dalton Deshazer, Alex Gilmore, Justin Jackson, Andrew Johnson, Jenna Kakas, Savannah Kratzberg, Kartis Leal, Malorie McCumons, Rebecca Stufflebeam, Franklin Torres, Shaun Tune, Jordan Underwood, Rachel Walker, and Johnna Walls.
“A special thank you to Kartis and Savannah for asking questions for our group,” Cummings said. “Thank you to Charles Howser, our driver, for making the trip with us. And, again, thank you to the Mayhews for making dreams come true.”
Fort Scott Community College also included a link to the Omaha-World Herald Newspaper, dated December 4, 2017, which included a section entitled “Warren Watch” and an article that spoke of Fort Scott:
Fort Scott ties
They’re not from Harvard, Yale or Stanford, but students from Fort Scott Community College in Kansas were in Omaha last week as part of the latest group of business students to meet Buffett, thanks in part to their town’s auto insurance connection with Berkshire.
Rick Mayhew of Fenton, Missouri, a member of the Berkshire fan club known as the Yellow Brk-ers, cited an account in Andy Kilpatrick’s “Of Permanent Value” book of the Buffett-Fort Scott connection. (Fort Scott students also made an Omaha trip in 2006.)
Insurance agent Oscar Rice started Western Insurance Cos. in 1910 in Fort Scott. Ray Duboc was CEO when Buffett invested in the business in the 1950s. Buffett later sold that investment and used the money to invest in Geico, now a big moneymaker for Berkshire.
“Western, in a major way, contributed to the financial success I had,” Buffett once said. “I owe a lot to Ray Duboc, the Western and Fort Scott, Kansas.”