Ball State students discuss what they learned during a recent trip to Warsaw as it pertains to their project on the Winona Lake Corridor. Photo provided.

By Stacie Ball
Guest Columnist

Editor’s Note: This article was published in the June issue of HomeLiving, a publication of The Papers Inc.

WARSAW — It’s well known that Warsaw is the Orthopaedic Capital of the world. Ball State University students decided to check it out for themselves when they began a research project in February, analyzing two key factors–the status of the supply chain, and the urban design of the Winona Avenue Corridor. If that’s a term you’re not familiar with, it defines the connection between the Village at Winona and downtown Warsaw.

OrthoWorx, partnering with Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce and Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation were happy to contribute, and the students added more research skills to their educational experience. The economic picture, with all its ups and downs, stays steadier than some when it comes to manufacturing in the orthopaedic industry. People are living longer than they used to, literally outwearing their original parts! A good look at all the factors, the impacts on employment for the local economy, was a must. The history was studied as well as the current state of healthcare. As with any business that must survive, constantly changing trends and needs must be factored in. For example, war injuries from the past years have been in many cases more survivable and the veterans wanted prosthetics that gave as much function as possible; hence the ‘blade’ and other state of the art designs. In addition, the students looked into key issues–small local businesses, transportation and housing needs.

The students had a very busy day, listening to a panel of community leaders, another panel of orthopaedic industry leaders, and participating in an economic profile. Then they toured Zimmer-Biomet and took a walking tour through the Corridor, talking to local business owners. PLAN 303 Economic Development Studio, under Prof. Ruoran Liu; and PLAN 498 Advanced Design Class, led by Prof. Hanan Qasrawi spent the day with the students. This was no small project. For one thing, this is a two year partnership, and the students will intermittently visit to conduct further research and share their findings.

Dr. John West, chair of the Department of Urban Planning at BSU explained further. “The project started because OrthoWorx and Biomet-Zimmer came to put on a showcase and do some recruiting among students. The Dean introduced me, and we came up with a plan to offer one of the studio classes in the department.”

When asked if they liked the experience, liked what they saw, West was quick to praise. “Yeah, I think they were really well, the best thing about it was the generosity of the people, the city, the county, they were all so generous with their time. We met at OrthoWorkz headquarters; we had done some primary analysis al-ready, and the students were given really useful and meaningful dialogue. They took them through one of the production facilities, and then went through the Corridor. I think they had a lot of inspiration, walking and talking to business owners. The folks who put that on were very generous. They also zoomed into classes for presentations and came for final presentations.”

West continued, “Economic Development Studio in urban planning tries to understand how the economy works, what needs help in the local economy. It can be very technical and dry material, so what was really nice was the added component of the specific area. The students did some research, looking into such things as could there be more doctors offices in the area; then they could decide where things should go and how it would look. It was exciting to do some design, and it’s better than just sketching on paper. So we put together a proposal to work with future classes through the next two years. I’m not sure where that will land, but I think it would be in continuation with OrthoWorx and the Chamber of Commerce. Will this lead to some kind of internship? I would think the students would definitely be interested.”

Professor Dr. Rouran Liu, taught the class, “and SHE did it. She spent countless hours making it work, with the students and coordinating schedules, all the details.”

Christine Rhine, administrative coordinator for the Department of Urban Planning, was invaluable in gathering the information needed for this piece. It will be interesting to see how it all shapes up over the next two years.