We started off this season talking about how limited broadband access can impact student performance and the overall well-being of a community. Today we are going from worry to a celebration and talking about the people who make a positive impact on students in rural communities through the public health system.  This Rural Mission is a podcast brought to you by Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. The podcast is produced with funds from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation and the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Family Medicine Department. Welcome to season two, I'm your host, Julia Terhune, and I hope you enjoy this episode. Education levels in rural communities is something to talk about. While rural communities lead the nation in number of individuals who have a high school diploma, according to the USDA, the number of people living and working with any additional education drops right off. In 2016, only 19% of all rural adults had anything more than an associate's degree as compared to 33% of all urban adults. When we look at county data, rural America leads the way in number of counties where more than 20% of the working population does not have a high school diploma. The prospects for higher education in rural America is bleak and it's low educational attainment seems to perpetuate the issues of rural poverty and the vitality of these communities, but there are success stories. If we drive North to beautiful Charlevoix County, we will get to a five square mile town called Boyne city. Boyne city is home to around 3,750 people, most of whom are over the age of 40. The average family in this area makes about $31,000 a year, which is more than $20,000 less than the mean income for the state, allowing for the average poverty rate in the county to sit around 12.5%. Like the rest of rural America, the majority of citizens have no more than a few college courses. Meaning that 60% of the population of Boyne City has nothing more than a high school diploma. For all those listening who are interested in medical access in rural Michigan, the health resource and service administration or HERSA has designated Charlevoix County as a health professional shortage area for primary care, dental care, and mental health care. In 2018, Boyne City High School saw some amazing students graduate. In fact, around 115 stellar graduates came out of points city, if we're going to be straight about it. We are going to talk to three of these amazing students, but I want to quickly set the stage. Boyne City High School graduates are coming from a rural school in a county that has some big social factors to overcome. 38% of all the students at Boyne City High School receive free or reduced lunch, and around 18% of the population that lives on less than $35,000 per year are families with children. Furthermore, I took the Liberty of plotting how far a student would have to travel to get to the nearest four year university from Boyne and I posted that map on our Facebook page, but I'll give the bag away. The closest four year institution to Boyne City is Lake Superior State University, which is over 90 miles away and across a five mile bridge. Therefore, options for a close to home education don't really exist for young adults looking to get something more than a high school diploma. But I told you there were success stories for this episode and there are. It's just that the students that have found their way to higher ed had more work to do than you would've expected. So let's introduce our leading ladies, shall we? Katie is going to Northern Michigan University. Katie is the daughter of Joe McCue who you heard earlier this season and is the oldest of a big family. She's staying in the state, but remember NMU is over 150 miles from Boyne. Maddie is going to Brown. Yes, Brown, and is going to tell you a lot about her trail to an Ivy League education and Anna, well, Anna is going to Stanford, you know the number tw