Parent Association News
Thank you!
On behalf of Brad Lyman and the KCD faculty and staff, we would like to extend a heartfelft thank you to parent association chair Heather Alford and all the wonderful volunteers of the KCD Parent Association.
The PA is an integral part of the our community, and KCD would simply not be the great place it is without all the imagination, creativity, and hard work of Ms. Alford and the other PA volunteers this year. Thank you!
Lower schoolers dig Exploremore 2010!
The Parent Association would like to extend some sincere “peace and love” to Cindy McCarthy and Steffi Sparks, co-chairs of this year’s Lower School Exploremore.
Cindy and Steffi and their committee created a truly groovy 60’s theme for this year’s event. This event simply would not be possible without the dozens of parents who taught classes and volunteered to help out during the day.
Meet your 2010-2011 Parent Association Board Members
Our mission is to provide the KCD parents with an accessible and actionable voice that improves our community. We hope that you will consider joining us in the effort to continue strengthening the spirit and impact of our KCD community.
Heather Alford, Past Chair
Most recently served as the PA Chair for the 2009-2010 school year. She has served on the Parent Association Board for several years as the LS Liaison and the Vice Chair. She has been involved in the KCD community as a volunteer for ten years. Heather also works outside KCD in the Oldham County School system. Her husband, Hank, is an attorney with Middleton Reutlinger. Heather and Hank have three children at KCD: Olivia (ninth grade) plays soccer and lacrosse; Jackson (sixth grade) plays soccer, football, and lacrosse; and Coleman (third grade) enjoys swimming and art.
Patricia Bennett, Chair
Patricia has worked in a variety of volunteer positions, including LS grade rep, Exploremore, KCD Booster Club, and Communications for the PA Board. Patricia works as a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch. Her husband Michael is the President of Bluegrass Medical. Their children Max (seventh grade) and Mason (fifth grade) are primarily involved in drama, basketball, baseball, football, and golf.
Rebecca Bailey, Vice Chair
Rebecca is new to the KCD community during the 2009-2010 school year. We welcome her fresh perspective as a former member of the Parent’s Association at Goshen Elementary, a blue ribbon-awarded school in Oldham County where she averaged 20-40 hours of volunteering time in a variety of roles, including fundraising and classroom assistant. She helped this year with the Book Fair and as the fifth/sixth grade baseball team parent coordinator. Her husband Alan is the Assistant Treasurer at Humana. Their children Nicholas (fifth grade) and Grayson (first grade) are involved in basketball, baseball, and flag football.
Debbie Widman, Treasurer
Debbie has served as the Assistant Treasurer preparing to assume the responsibilities next year as Treasurer of the Parent’s Association. In addition, she has worked with BearKitten Publishing, Art to Remember, Teacher Appreciation, LS and MS grade rep, and MS Tennis. She works with her husband Ron, who is the President of Retail Property Management. Their children Austin (seventh grade) and Connor (fifth grade) are involved in tennis and basketball.
Jennie Gomez, Assistant Treasurer
Jennie graduated from KCD in 1980 and has continued through the years to offer her help and support to KCD. She has recently worked as a MS grade rep. As a former partner in Fenley Real Estate, Jennie brings a wealth of business experience to the board. Currently, Jennie and her husband Victor, an accomplished marathon runner, work together investing in real estate and other business ventures. Their daughter Ania is in the seventh grade grade at KCD and is involved in music, theater, art, and basketball. Their son Max is a first grader at Summit Academy and enjoys basketball, baseball, and boy scouts.
Andrea Bruns, Communications
Andrea is serving thesecond year of a two-year term in the Communications role on the Parent Association Board. She has previously been a Lower School Grade Rep. In addition to her work at KCD, she works as a Director of Advocacy for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), a nonprofit that advocates for abused and neglected children who are involved in the judicial system. She is married to Richard Bruns, Director of Compensation and Benefits for American Commercial Lines, Inc. Their children Grace (fourth grade) and Quinn (first grade) are interested in soccer, swimming, field hockey, and girl scouts.
Chris Hirsch, US Liaison
Chris has previously held the US Liaison and the first Communications position on the PA Board. Chris has also volunteered as a Grade Rep in lower and middle school, Explore Louisville, and co-chaired KCDate. She is married to Tom, Managing Director of Merrill Lynch. Their daughter, Rachel, (eighth grade) plays field hockey and lacrosse for KCD and has an added interest in playing field hockey for IFHCK and Futures. Their son Brad attends the University of Maryland.
Barbie Dickens, MS Liaison
Barbie currently serves as a Grade Rep and assisted on the search committee for the new MS Director. As the General Counsel for the Louisville Water Company, Barbie brings her business background and experience to the board. She is married to Scott, a partner at the firm Fultz, Maddox, Hovious & Dickens, PLC. Their son John is a recent graduate of KCD. Their children Jake (sixth grade), Cole (fifth grade), and Gray (third) are dirt bike enthusiasts and are interested in football, baseball, and boy scouts.
Elizabeth Poindexter, LS Liaison
Elizabeth has worked as the LS Lunch Parent coordinator, LS grade rep, and the Teacher and Staff Appreciation Committee this year. She is married to Philip, Executive Vice President of Stockyards Bank and Trust Company, and who currently serves on KCD’s Board of Directors. Their daughter Lucy (third grade) enjoys field hockey, art, and tennis. Their son Charlie (kindergarten) loves baseball and basketball.
Teachers and staff enjoy Spa Day
The KCD Parent Association sponsors three major teacher/staff appreciation events throughout the year. The third event this year, Spa Day, was held Friday in the main lobby. Teachers and staff were invited to come enjoy a light lunch, then kick back, relax, and be pampered.
Dominique Hendren with Arbonne International, Inc. pampered teachers and staff with hand treatments and skin care education. Licensed massage therapists Renee Shofner and Kim Guenthner massaged away upper body tension and strain. Dr. Drew Anderson, from The Spine Center Chiropractic, was on hand for postural analysis and assessment while the staff from ULTA Hair Salon in the Summit provided hair-styling, hair tips, and demonstrated their complete face mapping by their licensed skin therapist. All of these friends of KCD donated their goods and services for this event. We appreciate all their hard work and contributions to our school.
Thank you to the Kroger Deli in Prospect and The Olive Garden for helping provide the staff lunch. Parent participation for Spa Day was amazing! The Parent Association, the Teacher/Staff Appreciation Committee, and the Chair for Spa Day would like to send a special “thank you” to all the parents who donated the pasta salads, desserts, drinks, raffle gifts, and their time.
Explore Louisville celebrates our community
Explore Louisville is dedicated to showcasing the many aspects of the Louisville community. On Friday, March 26, middle schoolers had the opportunity to explore their city in a variety of ways.
This year’s Explore Louisville theme was “Setting Yourself up for Success; What it Will Take to Succeed in Business in the 21st Century,” and the day kicked off with keynote speaker and Fox 41 news anchor Bill Alexander. Following Mr. Alexander’s remarks, seventh and eighth graders left campus to volunteer at fourteen local charities and nonprofits. Fifth and sixth graders remained on campus, where they participated in a series of workshops led by local entrepreneurs and community leaders.
Special thanks go to Tamme Tannehill and Tammy Switow for organizing Explore Louisville this year. Thanks also to Emily Dageforde, who arranged the community service visits for the seventh and eighth grades as well as organizing transportation. Finally, thanks to all of the other KCD parents who brought in desserts for all of the participants.
Announcing the 2010 – 2011 PA Board
The KCD Parent Association is pleased to announce the 2010 – 2011 Board:
- Past Chair: Heather Alford, wintersh@bellsouth.net
- Chair: Patricia Bennett, patricia_bennett@ml.com
- Vice Chair: Rebecca Bailey, bail7859@bellsouth.net
- Treasurer: Debbie Widman, d-widman@insightbb.com
- Assistant Treasurer: Jennie Gomez, jgomez@insightbb.com
- Communications: Andrea Bruns, andreabruns@bellsouth.net
- US Liaison: Chris Hirsch, c.hirsch@insightbb.com
- MS Liaison: Barbie Dickens, bdickens@lwcky.com
- LS Liaison: Elizabeth Poindexter, philpoin@bellsouth.net
Our mission is to provide the KCD parents with an accessible and actionable voice that improves our community. We hope that you will consider joining us in the effort to continue strengthening the spirit and impact of our KCD community.
I hope you will consider being a part of the Parent’s Association’s efforts to make a difference next year. Starting on page seven of your 2009 – 2010 Directory, you will see the committees and grade representative positions listed. We are asking for your help to make next year a memorable one. Please look over the committees, consider the grade representative position, and send me or any of the board members listed an email indicating any area that might interest you. We are glad to answer questions and help match your talents, skills, and interests with positions in the Parent Association. We hope to finalize these positions in the next few weeks. Whether you work full time, part time, all the time . . . we want to make the Parent Association accessible to you. And in the words of Anita Roddick, founder and CEO of The Body Shops:
“If you think you're too small to make a difference, you haven't been in bed with a mosquito!"
Next year will be an exceptionally exciting year to be involved with the completion of the expansion project, welcoming a new middle school director, searching for a new lower school director, and notable forward momentum in athletics (just to name a few reasons). It will be a great time to be involved. I hope to hear from you soon.
Patricia Bennett
PA sponsors first-ever Father-Son All Star event
On Sunday, February 21, the first-ever Father-Son All Star event held at Velocity Sports Performance was an exciting father-son afternoon of sports, games, pizza and prizes. Special thanks to all of the volunteer “coaches” who worked on the committee and spent the day assisting in the event. These coaches included Karen Blue, Denise Moriarty, Julie Walkoff, Monet Jaggers, Wendy Anzalone, Andrea Bruns, Amy McLaughlin, Elizabeth Poindexter, Heather Alford, Shandra Holbrook, Laura McAdams, Kelly Wagner, Karen Sherman, Nikki Bockhorst, Lauren Shaftel, and Traci Green.
In addition, the Parent Association would like to give special recognition and appreciation to Keith Sherman and Velocity Sports Performance for offering their facility to KCD and hosting a wonderful event. There were two special raffles going on during the event. Carter James was the lucky winner of the Bats Baseball Box for fourteen and Sammy Goldentul was the winner of a Birthday Party at the Basketball Academy. Special thanks to Scott and Janie Ferguson for the donation of the Bats Box and an additional special thank you to Amy and Kevin McLaughlin who were the winners of a special live auction and took home two personalized Kentucky Wildcat Basketballs signed by Coach John Calipari.
Father-daughter dance sets attendance record
On Friday, February 5, the Lower School Father-Daughter Dance was a magical night for girls and their fathers. Special thanks to Karen Blue and all the committee members for all of their hard work on the event: Kathy Cox, Julie Walkoff, Diana Gamber, Teri Smart, Najla Goldberg, Jill Vogel, Pam Klinner, Heather Alford, Carmen Mathis, Libby Gray, Melissa Robertson, Kate Latts and Kimberly Jackson. Proceeds from the event will benefit Exploremore.
Lower School sends supplies to Haiti
Lower school students helped fundraise over $11,000 for Haiti relief from the Read-a-Thon and a dress-down day. Many of the funds went towards purchasing medical supplies to send to Haiti. Mathis Specialties arranged for the school to purchase supplies at cost, allowing us to maximize the amount of money used for medical supplies.
The fourth grade team was responsible for coordinating a student effort to stuff ziplock bags with pediatric toothbrushes, toothpaste, disposable washcloths, lotion, shampoo, body wash, combs and band aids on Friday, February 19. That same day, a Parent Association bottled water drive collected enough water to help aid over three thousand people in Haiti.
The medical supplies and four pallets of bottled water collected will be shipped to Haiti with other relief supplies through Go-Ministries here in Louisville.
PA provides Mexican fiesta lunch
Thanks to Elizabeth Poindexter, Meredith Alexander, and the Teacher-Staff Appreciation Committee for providing a great Mexican lunch for faculty and staff today. Teachers and staff members dropped by the lobby to enjoy a fajita bar and homemade treats.
