Kids of all ages, rejoice! Honda is coming to town.

Alright, maybe it doesn’t warrant a ticker-tape parade by representatives from the Lollypop Guild, but the youth of the community should still be excited. And no, not because now they have a wonderful future with Honda secured, I’m not suggesting we turn into a Flint, Michigan, and everyone leave their jobs for the new factory, but because they have a wonderful future of development secured for Greensburg and Decatur County.

First example: Honda comes to town and within three days, the Indiana Department of Transportation is working on completing the interchange between U.S. 421 and State Road 74 on the northern side of town. That project had been dead in the water before Wednesday.

It’s not just roads, either. Former Daily News publisher Mike Casuscelli wrote a column explaining how Honda will bring in not only its own jobs, but new businesses that will infuse the community with new investments and promote growth. Casuscelli’s column was based on possibilities, however. This one is firmly rooted in reality.

The reality is, businesses like Honda want their homes to be the greatest places they can be, and they’re willing to donate major funds to make that goal happen. I’m not talking about planting a bunch of trees either.

Honda has set up a program in Ohio called SOAR, Students of Ohio Achieving Results. Its goal is to instill responsibility in students for their own education and learning. After five years, the program returned a 20-60 percent reduction in school discipline, and 50 percent reduction in school absenteeism, according to High Street Primary Principal Rick Fry, whose school was part of the program.

Economic development, downtown revitalization, the annual school bake sale, Honda has shown that not only is it committed as a corporation to community and teamwork, but its associates are as well. Honda executives aren’t going to be found just on the golf course, they’ll be sitting on school boards, showing up at City Council meetings and raising money for the United Fund. They’ve proven they want to be just as much a part of the community as their employees. There’s good reason too, they have to live here as well.

A problem that has been plagued the community, and the state, for years may find some relief in Honda as well. I’m talking about the “Brain Drain.”

You see, most of my generation is going to go to college. Frankly, it’s pretty much expected of us, and I think that’s a great thing. Unfortunately, our hometowns forgot to follow through with those expectations by providing work when we get back. No one wants to go through college for four years and come back to wait tables. So, we leave. We go to big cities where our degrees can be utilized and we can make a reasonable wage for having them. Now, maybe Greensburg has a shot.

Honda jobs aren’t “hammer and nail” (Ok, I stole that phrase from Jim Cummings), they require higher-level education. College degrees are going to be expected from applicants. Businesses that Honda will attract along with it, the same will go for them. The new wave of jobs soon to hit Decatur County will be those we’ve needed for so long: Jobs that require degrees. If my generation can come home and work in a job they studied for and make good money doing it, well, a lot more of them will probably come home. That can only mean good things for the county. Personally, I’d really like to see our 11.5 percent college degree ratio go up exponentially. Honda is doing it’s part to make that happen.

Like I said, kids rejoice, your hometown is finally able to offer you a reason to go to college.

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