For more information, contact Elaine Simmons, 620-792-9214, simmonse@bartonccc.edu

June 10, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Story by: Michael Dawes
dawesm@bartonccc.edu

She was hired as a keypunch operator for Barton Community College, with no degree and no experience in the field of computers. She left full-time employment at Barton more than a week ago, having served as a faculty member and later an administrator, who earned a master’s degree. She’s proof that Horatio Alger exists in female form today.

Sufficed to say, LaVonne Gerritzen’s world changed markedly during her 35-year career at the College. Her world is changing markedly again as she moves toward retirement, but she’s not ready to quit cold turkey. She’s keeping a lifeline to her familiar world as a Barton employee, returning as a part-time employee in two months.

“It’s been a good run,” said Gerritzen, about her retirement. “I’ve made a lot of good friends out here. I’m coming back, though; I’m not going away, so that makes it easier to leave.”

Gerritzen returns to Barton in August to work 15 hours a week, serving as a program assistant for the Workforce Training and Community Education Division. She will continue her work with the Perkins Grant, while assisting with curriculum, state reporting and special projects.

Her 35-year career with Barton began July 1, 1974. Gerritzen was a new mother with two young children under foot. She took a job with the College, working as a faculty secretary, and also served as secretary for the computer department. Her new role with computers, along with being divorced at that time, motivated her to earn an associate degree, bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree through her first two decades of employment at Barton. Educational advancements and work experience allowed her to move from secretary in the 1970s and ’80s to associate faculty from 1988-93, to a 10-year run as a full-time Barton faculty member. Finally, in the mid 1990s, she became an administrator, a position she held for the last 15 years of her career at the College.

Through their mother’s experiences, Gerritzen’s children recognized the value of education. David and Larissa each earned an associate degree in the 1990s from Barton. David moved on to get his heating and air conditioning license and today works in that industry in Colorado. Gerritzen’s daughter, Larissa Graham, earned a bachelor’s degree and served as an early childhood education instructor before becoming the College’s Child Development Center coordinator. She has worked at Barton for more than 20 years.

“I’m glad they realize education is important,” said Gerritzen. “They were with me during the struggling times and when I was working evenings and weekends to make ends meet,” said Gerritzen. “They lived that with me, so they were a part of that history with me.”

It wasn’t all work and worry, however. As a way to make extra income, Gerritzen began working the scorers table at home Barton basketball games. She grew to love her role, which she did for nearly 20 years. That long run also comes to an end, as the keeper of the clock relinquishes her important position. For the past 10 years, Gerritzen also worked the scorers table at Barton’s home volleyball matches. She will continue serving in that capacity on a voluntary basis.

A part of Barton’s original history leaves with Gerritzen, related to the College’s Barton Office Professionals organization. In the mid 1970s, Gerritzen was one of the originators of the group, originally titled Barton VIPs. She played an integral role in the local organization and even served on the state board of the organization’s governing body, Association of Kansas Community College Office Professionals, for about a dozen years.

During her tenure as a faculty member and administrator, Gerritzen served on the Board of Directors of Kansas Association of Career and Technical Education for eight years. She served on the Board of Directors of the Kansas Council for Workforce Education for six years.

Mostly through her 35 years, however, Gerritzen was an educator – one who learned her craft from the school of hard knocks and on the job. Even as an administrator, she continued teaching through the remainder of her full-time employment at Barton. She taught her last computer class in late April to a combined group comprised of students from the Natural Gas and Medical Assistant programs. Many of those students were not proficient with computers. Gerritzen relates well to those students.

“I tell them that I know how they feel because I learned computers on my own,” explained Gerritzen. “I didn’t learn it out of books and I didn’t go to school to become a computer teacher. It gives me a different background when I teach. I know how they feel; I know how tough it can be for them and how Greek it is to them sometimes because I was there.”

In those teachable moments, 35 years of experience can melt together in the blink of an eye for the key-punch operator turned educator and administrator – the one who started with so little and accomplished so much.

Gerritzen Degrees:
Barton Community College, Associate of Science, 1991
Fort Hays State University, General Studies, 1993
Kansas State University, Secondary Education with emphasis in educational technology, 1996

Birthday Retirement – Gerritzen stands by a cake made and decorated in celebration of her pending 60th birthday and her retirement from Barton. Both events took place at the end of May. Barton’s Workforce Training and Community Education Division held the dual celebration on May 20. Members of the division held a “roasting” to honor Barton’s longtime employee.