Gov. Mitch Daniels' morning started with reminding Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland about the might of the Purdue football team and ended with lunch at Wayne High School's New Tech program.

Daniels was in the area Thursday for a ribbon-cutting event to open a portion of the new U.S. 24 highway near Woodburn.

“God helps those who help themselves,” said Daniels, “and we have helped everyone,” he added with a smile. The mood was light, and there was much joking back and forth between the governors.

“You are killing me,” Strickland called out from behind Daniels when the Indiana governor brought up Purdue's football team, which beat highly ranked Ohio State recently, in his remarks at the podium. The crowd of 300, from both Ohio and Indiana, responded with laughter.

After the ribbon was cut, Daniels went to his next appointment, a tour of the New Tech program at Wayne High School. From the moment he entered the classroom, he was asking students how they liked the system. Most students responded positively.

“It's better. In middle school, I just sat all day. Here we get to ask questions and do it our way,” responded Jessica Lowe, 14.

After talking to a group of about 10 students, he moved around the room stopping to talk to students. As the class headed out the door for lunch, Logan Bradford, 14, lingered to ask the governor the question he had been asking all of them: “What do you think of New Tech so far?”

“I'm very positively impressed so far; I like the sense of excitement,” Daniels responded.

Daniels joined the students for lunch. Forgoing the meal, he sipped his milk and continued asking the kids for feedback on the school.

Daniels managed, for a day, to escape his administration's problems with the state's ailing welfare system, including how to fund and administer it. He said solutions are being worked out to fix the situation. He also said the problem was in place before his administration took over.

On Thursday, however, he was focused on positives: a new highway and a new type of high school.

Daniels, encouraged by the success he saw at Wayne, asked, “What if we could be the state of New Tech high schools?”