Celebrating 50 Years

To celebrate our 50th anniversary, we are going to feature important people and events from our history. And there is only one person to start with; Dr. Don Butler, Bowling Green – Warren County Community Education’s first director!

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Originally from Mason County, KY Dr. Butler was hired in July of 1973 after completing his Ph.D. in Community Education and Educational Administration at Michigan State University. Dr. Butler was the first full-time Community Education director in Kentucky and was the Founding Charter President of the Kentucky Community Education Association in 1974. Dr. Butler went on the become the “Father of Community Education” throughout the Commonwealth.

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Looking back on our 50th anniversary, Dr. Butler reflected, “Did we achieve all our goals back then? No, but we did create a vision for the future of Community Education here and across Kentucky. So many people worked tirelessly to achieve where Community Education Bowling Green and Warren County is in 2023 – still evolving to changes, and making a difference in the lives of children, families, adults, and seniors.”

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Dr. Butler still drops by our offices to share stories and encourage our staff. Thank you, Dr. Butler, for all you have done for our community!

Our next Community Education alumni profile is Ryan Dearbone. After leaving Community Education, Ryan worked in Philanthropy at WKU for several years and is now an Assistant Professor of Broadcasting. Originally from Hopkinsville, Ryan has his Broadcasting degree and Master’s degree in Communications from WKU. Ryan, his wife Bonita, and daughters Echo and Legacy live in Bowling Green.

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Ryan’s roots with Community Education go back over 16 years. “While I was on staff I ran Camp Extreme, the before-school program, and helped with media, marketing and fundraising.” Prior to working at Community Ed, Ryan worked as a Multimedia Journalist in Bowling Green, Hopkinsville, KY/Clarksville, TN, and Lexington, KY. When he left to work at WKU Ryan found a new way to be involved with our mission. “I have been an Advisory Council member and currently serve on the Board where I was the Chair for the past two years.”

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Ryan’s outside interests include his family, watching and playing sports (Go Raiders!), running, music, TV, and relaxing. Ryan also currently serves as President of the Bowling Green-Warren County Chapter of the NAACP.

The subject of this week’s 50th Anniversary profile doesn’t fit neatly into the alumni category or the Staff category. Bill Oldham, Community Education’s seventh and current Executive Director could be considered both. “I feel I have been involved with Community Education one way or another for most of my adult life.”

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Bill’s daughters, Abbey and Alex, went to the After-School program at McNeill Elementary starting in the late 1990s. Sparked by that connection, Oldham went on to serve on the Advisory Council and eventually the Board of Directors while continuing to work in hospital marketing. His “third career” plan was to work in non-profit management. (Oldham worked in broadcast television production upon graduating from WKU). “Deep in my heart, I have wanted to work at Community Ed for a long time. I’m very fortunate that things worked out the way I hoped they would.” Founding Executive Director Dr. Don Butler chaired the search committee that hired him.

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Three months after Oldham began in his current position, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all programs operated by Community Education. “It completely blindsided me. I had several very dark months.” Oldham had two major challenges. “I wanted us back up and running so we could serve the families that count on us, and I wanted to care for the staff. It was a very difficult time for them.”

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Bill’s outside interests include his family, making craft lamps upcycling interesting bourbon bottles, and volunteering. Bill serves on the executive committee of the Bowling Green-Warren County Chapter of the NAACP and is the Board chair for Saturday Meals. A native of Indiana, Bill is very proud to be a Kentucky Colonel, having been nominated by his daughter Abbey.

Debi Wade Jordan’s relationship with Community Education began when she was a single mother working at Western Kentucky University in the mid 1990s.

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“I had no extended family in Bowling Green,” Jordan said. “The school age program allowed me to work while my son was in a safe environment that was both active and educational.”

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In 2000, Jordan, who holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from WKU, accepted the position of executive director of Community Education.

Under her leadership, Community Education grew to add programs such as Teen Angel, Summer Activities Fair, and Spellabration.

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“Serving the residents of our community is my passion,” Jordan said. “I was most fortunate to be able to do that through Community Education and collaborations with other agencies and organizations, including both local school districts.”

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In addition, Community Education built the first permanent home for the agency on Westen Street during Jordan’s time as executive director.

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She was extremely active in the Kentucky Community Education Association, in which she served in several offices, including president.

Both of her children worked in entry level jobs for Community Education during their college years.

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Jordan retired in 2019 to assist with her aging parents. Her daughter, Bailey Jordan Warner, also was bitten by the Community Education bug and became the agency’s adult enrichment coordinator in November of 2021.

Nancy (Firkins) Hinten was the fourth Community Education director in Bowling Green/Warren County, serving in that capacity from 1993 to 2000. Before coming to Community Education, Hinten worked in Children’s Ministry at Fountain Square Church, was an aerobics instructor, a bank teller, and a research assistant on a youth substance usage survey. Hinten has a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and a Master of Arts in counseling.

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“The things I am proudest about during my time at Community Education were increasing community involvement with the schools by expanding student involvement in service learning activities (we planted 2,000 trees in the year 2000 on public lands,) the expansion of the school-age care and summer care programs, and the creation of the Youth Activities Program for middle schoolers.”

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The biggest challenges Hinten faced, identification as a quasi-governmental agency and the limitations and advantages for our programs and personnel, are not that different from several of the ones Community Education faces today.

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After leaving Community Education, Hinten worked as development director for a community/school program (Communities In Schools of Wichita/Sedgwick County, Kan.,) planned giving director for Friends University (Wichita, Kan.,) and executive director for Communities In Schools/Pando Initiative.

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“Working for Community Education exposed me to grant writing and community development opportunities. It gave me the opportunity to work with a variety of organizations and groups who were interested in creating programs that would help youth and their families thrive in our community.”

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Now retired, Hinten is married to Marvin D. Hinten and has two children, a stepson, three grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.

Anne Blane Grubbs came to Community Education to lead the then wrap-around kindergarten program at McNeill Elementary.

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At that time, kindergarten was only a half day. The Community Education program took care of students during the part of the day that students were not in class, allowing parents to work a full day.

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After kindergarten became all day, Grubbs moved into the enrichment and volunteer coordinator position.

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She developed a network of instructors who taught a wide range of classes.

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Grubbs was ahead of her time in offering classes online, way before other entities did.

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The Martinsville, Va., native also was an incredible fundraiser.

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One of the most successful programs that she started at Community Education, Stand For Children Day, remains a tradition providing children and their families with community resources. This year marks the 25th annual Stand For Children event.

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Grubbs was passionate about education at every level.

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When she retired, Community Education established a scholarship named in her honor at Western Kentucky University to be awarded each semester to a Community Education staff member.

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Grubbs died in 2014 and is missed by the entire community.

Natalie Taylor (Herrington) Gentry came to Bowling Green seeking a bachelor’s degree in early childhood development at Western Kentucky University. She quickly began what would progress into a long-lasting relationship with Community Education.

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Her first position at Community Education was as a student group leader at the Cumberland Trace Elementary after-school program. After spending a few semesters as a group leader, she was promoted to site supervisor and continued in that role throughout college.

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After graduating in 1992, she managed a private daycare center provided for employees of a local business.

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Several years later, she returned to Community Education as director of School-age programs from 1998 through 2008. Part of what brought her back to the agency was the chance to work closely with families and their children on a larger scope than she could in the private sector. Gentry left after purchasing Creative Learning Child Development Center in Bowling Green.

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She credits her combined experiences at our agency and then Executive Director Debi Wade Jordan’s support as helping her take on that and other challenges.

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“The Community Education staff, we were all a big family,” Gentry said. “That family helped me through my father’s passing, my becoming a single parent, and ultimately my decision to explore actually owning a childcare center.”

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After six years, Gentry sold her business to embark on a different journey, allowing her to continue her passion of working with young people, including those outside her new community of Tell City, Ind.

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She and her spouse Bryan Gentry acquired Taylor Tours, a company founded by her late father. Natalie serves as co-owner, vice-president, and hands-on tour escort for young adult school trips to destinations such as New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.

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When Gentry is not traveling around the country with her Taylor Tours groups, she spends time with family, including her daughter, Taylor, who grew up in the midst of Community Education programs and also worked here while in college. Gentry enjoys her horses and dogs and is an avid golfer.

Vivian Foe was born in 1936 and grew up in Smiths Grove, Ky. She attended North Warren school, and had perfect attendance for 11 of her 12 years. After working in the private sector for a year, she returned to her first love of teaching and enrolled at Western Kentucky State College, now known as WKU.

Foe left home to teach in San Diego, California after earning her degree in 1959. “I wanted to go somewhere I had never been,” she said. This would be a recurring theme throughout her life.

She moved back to Kentucky to marry fellow teacher John Foe in August 1960. They have three daughters: Brookie Henry of Bowling Green, Marcia Wozniak of Victoria, Texas, and Lori Hughes of Frankfort, and three grandchildren: Ashton Henry, John Cole Wozniak, and Anne-Grayson Wozniak. One daughter and two grandchildren have carried on the family tradition and become teachers. A substitute teacher for several years, Foe returned to teaching full-time when their daughters were in junior high. She was at L.C. Curry when she was invited to join the Community Education Advisory Council.

Foe has served as chair of the Advisory Council and the Board of Directors, and has worked at nearly all of the 24 Stand for Children Days. She is particularly proud of the current facility on Westen Street that houses the organization. “We were able to purchase the property and remodel the existing building,” which was quite an accomplishment for a non-profit.

“The before and after-school programs provide safe places for children. That is very important,” she says, also mentioning the value of the Enrichment program. “I have enjoyed working with the staff at Community Education.”

A map in the Foe house has pins placed in all 50 states, and in the many countries the couple visited while teaching Vacation Bible School. There are 139 nativity scenes and 300 dolls from around the world. Each year the house is decorated with 18 Christmas trees, and it has been the location for the Community Education holiday potluck for many years. The couple once hosted an exchange teacher from Austria, where Foe returned later to teach.

In retirement, the Foes were active in AARP, Warren County Retired Teachers Association, and Woodmen Life. Foe has also been involved with the Bowling Green Women’s Club, Alpha Delta Kappa sorority, the Ombudsman program, Emmanuel Day Care board, and First Baptist Church. The Foes were married 57 years when John Foe died in 2017.

“I have seen many changes over the years to the schools and to Community Education,” Foe says with pride, knowing that she played an important role in the lives of many school-age children and their families.

#CommEd50

Jason Kupchella’s career has been one focused on education. Kupchella is the Assistant Superintendent/Chief Operations Officer for the Warren County Public Schools and the current chair of the Community Education Board of Directors.

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Born in Louisville, Kupchella has lived in Warren County since he was 16. He is a graduate of WCHS and WKU with a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in education and a Rank I in administration.

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Kupchella was a science teacher and Girls’ basketball coach at Warren East Middle School, then the assistant at Warren East High School. After a year as a math teacher and head girls’ basketball coach in Asheboro, NC, Kupchella returned to the area in 1999 as a math and science teacher and head girls’ basketball coach at BGHS. After a year of teaching math at Greenwood High School in 2007, Kupchella moved to Briarwood Elementary, where he was the Assistant Principal and then the Principal. In 2015 Kupchella moved into his current role as the Warren County Public Schools’ Assistant Superintendent.

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Kupchella and his wife have two children – Griffin is a freshman at WKU, and Julia is a junior at Greenwood High School, where she plays basketball and tennis.

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“Community Education is basically an extension of the school system by providing our students before and after school care. I’ve worked with Community Ed a great deal in my years at Briarwood, and now I help as the two systems work together.”

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“I am proud of Community Education for our ability to provide care for families who need the help before and after school, but also that the care is an extension of their school day, not just a ‘babysitting’ service. Also, I love all of the things Community Education provides for the young members of your community, such as Teen Angel and Stand for Children day.”

Karen Schmalzbauer served as the third Community Education director for 14 years starting in 1978. Dr. Don Butler, Community Education’s first director, was her mentor. “The way Dr. Butler set up Community Education was such an asset,” Schmalzbauer said. “We had access to resources others would have loved to have had.”

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Under her direction, Community Ed grew exponentially. “It was a prime time for Community Education to expand,” she recalled.
Milestones achieved during Schmalzbauer’s tenure include the first after-school program housed in Kentucky schools at McNeill Elementary in 1983, with a second program at Potter Gray Elementary in 1984. By 1991, after-school care expanded to seven sites.

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Super Summer Club was first offered at two elementary schools in 1991.

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Schmalzbauer is most proud of the Bowling Green-Warren County Rape Crisis and Prevention Center (now known as Hope Harbor,) which Community Education helped establish in 1985.

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“A friend who had been raped years earlier was appalled by the lack of resources available to survivors of traumatic events such as hers,” Schmalzbauer said. “We secured funding, advertised for a volunteer director, and opened an office next to ours in the former High Street School facility.” The center started with $500 in funds from the local board of realtors. Schmalzbauer and her friend covered every shift on the crisis line until they could recruit volunteers. The 24/7 crisis line is a critical service Hope Harbor provides today.

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Originally from St. Paul, Minn., Schmalzbauer earned a bachelor’s degree in education in Wisconsin and a master’s degree in adult learning from Western Kentucky University.

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Schmalzbauer left Bowling Green to become the state community education consultant, overseeing all the community education programs in Kentucky for the Department of Education.

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Now retired, Schmalzbauer and Gippy Graham, who held the first community education position at the state level and is credited with facilitating the growth of community education throughout the commonwealth, live in Florida, where she teaches yoga, stretching, and water aerobics. Schmalzbauer has two children and two grandchildren.

Derick Marr, the principal at Rich Pond Elementary School with Warren County Public Schools, started his career in education when he worked at Community Education in the early 2000s. Marr has a Bachelor of Science degree in Middle Grades, a Master’s degree in Education, and a Rank 1 Instructional Leadership. He and his wife, Christie, have two sons, Tanner and Kye.

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Over Marr’s four years with Community Education, he was a group leader and site supervisor at after-school programs. One of Marr’s proudest accomplishments with Community Education was being an integral part of launching one of the summer camps, Eagle Roc, during its first year in operation. Eagle Roc served students in grades third through fifth.

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“Community Education prepared me to be an educator by working with children, parents, and community members. Being a site supervisor for the afternoon school programs and summer camps helped me develop my leadership skills.”

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“Much of my college career was shaped by the friendships I developed while working with Community Education. It was such a great experience and helped prepare me in so many ways for my career in education.”

Wes Watt is the Public Information Officer for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 3 Office in Bowling Green. His experiences while working at Community Education helped prepare him for that career.

“Working for Community Education allowed me to develop a wide range of skills,” Watt said. “I got media experience by going on live television on multiple local stations as well as radio interviews and newspaper interviews.”

Watt began working at Community Education in 2002 as a group leader, now called direct services, at L.C. Curry Elementary School. By the time he left in 2013, Watt was the assistant director of school-age programs.

“Dealing with kids and parents from all types of backgrounds in numerous situations allowed me to develop some in-depth people skills,” Watt said.

“Since I worked at multiple levels at Community Education I was able to develop teamwork skills with my co-workers and supervisor skills in various roles.”

Watt said that the everyday challenges of working with large groups of students and staff at multiple sites developed problem-solving skills.

“All of my experiences while working at Community Education has transferred to all aspects of my life, personally and professionally,” Watt said.

Working at Community Education was rewarding, according to Watt.

“I loved helping the kids with their homework,” he said. “The teachers would sometimes share with me that students’ grades would go up because they were able to get their homework finished in the after-school program. I really felt like I had a positive impact.”

Watt said he runs into several people who, as kids, were in Community Education programs and now as adults work for Community Education or for similar programs.

“It’s really cool to see kids whom I had in our programs now working in them as adults,” Watt concluded.