A Missouri S&T leader and a partner of the Rolla community once shared a dream: to create a space where entrepreneurs and community members could connect, collaborate and grow Rolla together. 

That dream became the Rolla LOOP, a monthly gathering supported by S&T’s Kummer College and started by “the Rachels” — Dr. Rachel Kohman, assistant dean of entrepreneurship education at S&T; and Rachel Jung, S&T alumna and director of project management at Brewer Science, who also runs the hit social media brand “Uncover Rolla.”

“Jung and I knew that the best way to create an entrepreneurship ecosystem was through a casual convening of entrepreneurs, resources and innovative thinkers,” Kohman says. “We wanted it to be a partnership across the community, but we also have people from St. Louis, Springfield and Columbia who have been showing interest.”

Their first official Rolla LOOP meeting was held in October 2025, and they have gathered monthly since. The number of attendees is steadily growing.

“What’s surprising is where these connections can lead,” Kohman says. “For our November meeting our presenter was Vishesh Tanwar, a postdoctoral candidate at S&T who is spinning out the company FarmVates, an AI-native operating platform for the specialty crop value chain. No one in the room was a crop farmer, but a few of them said, ‘Wait, I know somebody I could connect you with.’ We need to have people convening together in order for those connections to start.”

Jung said the idea for the Rolla LOOP grew out of earlier conversations about workforce development with corporate leaders in the area, and as a member of S&T’s business and information technology (BIT) advisory board, she recognized the need to better support students and try to retain local talent in Rolla.

“The talent is here,” Jung says. “The question was how do we keep them here? It started with workforce development, but it evolved into creating more organic connections between people who might not otherwise be in the same room.”

Jung said their goal with the Rolla LOOP is to create a culture of moving forward for Rolla, enhancing communication and fostering a space for anyone to collaborate. She said everyone is welcome at the Rolla LOOP.

“We’re seeing a culture shift in Rolla, and we want to make sure we’re bringing to light the great things that are going on and that can help support entrepreneurs,” Jung says.

Each meeting is held at a local business with a guest speaker. The Rolla LOOP gathered at the Public House Brewery for its most recent meeting, held Feb. 2. Guest speaker Taisa Gordon, director of the office of entrepreneurship at the Missouri Department of Economic Development, shared the department’s mission to support the growth of entrepreneurship in Missouri.

“Essentially, we want to remove barriers for startups in Missouri,” Gordon told the crowd at the February meeting. “We want Missouri to be a startup-friendly state. We’re laying the groundwork for information gathering, listening and talking to entrepreneurs … this is how Missouri can take the lead in supporting entrepreneurs.”

Kummer College Dean Jim Sterling says growth takes connection, and the Rolla LOOP is here to help people learn how to start companies. 

“People need to know how to start, then grow their companies to the next level,” Sterling said during  the February meeting. “And these are all things that we’re interested in. We intend to do these meetups the first Monday of each month forevermore. You all will be the first to say, ‘I remember when there were 20 of us,’ then this venue will hold 200 or 300 of us in a few years.”

Jill Fahrenholtz, a teacher at the Kaleidoscope Discovery Center in Rolla, attended the February meeting. She has a robotics background but is also interested in entrepreneurship.

“I’ve been following economic development in our area for a long time, and I’m in a phase of my life where I want to be doing more and continue with youth, but also be working in the business realm,” she says. “I think this is going to be an interesting networking environment with people who might not run into one another otherwise — the serendipitous collisions.”

The Rolla LOOP meets the first Monday of every month. To learn more and RSVP for the next gathering on Monday, March 2, sign up using their online form. Those who RSVP will be added to an email list to receive updates about future events.