Realizing that students at Hazard Community and Technical College need a person to turn to if they have questions on a wide variety of subjects is what prompted HCTC to hire Jennifer Hays as a Success Coach at the Lees College Campus.
Hays began Jan. 4 and is assisting students in both academic and non-academic matters. She can help students find tutoring, provide disability service information as well as provide direction to mental health counseling, transportation resources, housing, utility issues and food banks. Helping students learn to navigate Blackboard, setting up email accounts on their smart phones or connecting them with SNAP benefit representatives are also areas where she can help. “I want to assist students by connecting them to crucial resources that can help eliminate some of those unexpected life stressors we all at times encounter so they can better concentrate on their classes,” Hays said.
“This new initiative is so very important for our area. We strive to connect students to resources that they may need in order for them to have supports and stability in both their academic and daily lives so they can be successful in their courses and graduate. In my role as Success Coach, I am eager to be a ‘positive’ in a world that can sometimes be rather demanding because of unforeseen life events. By listening to the students’ concerns/issues, we can work together to develop a plan of action to connect them with the resources they need to reduce the stressors for them so they can concentrate on their classes,” she noted.
Her education includes a master’s degree in School Media Library Science in 2012 through Western Kentucky University and a master’s degree in Exceptional Children–Learning and Behavior Disorders in 2009 through Georgetown College. She earned a bachelor’s degree in University Studies through Morehead State University. She holds an Associate of Science degree in Nursing; she earned that degree at the Lees College Campus where she now works.
Hayes has worked for the Breathitt County Health Department and Breathitt County Schools. She served as a Home and Community Based Waiver Case Manager, Breathitt County Home Health RN and continues to work part-time as an RN for them in a program called the Kentucky Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Self Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring Program. She has also served as a Learning and Behavior Disorder Special Education Teacher and Librarian at LBJ Elementary.
Jennifer and husband, Philip, live in Jackson. They have two daughters, ages 22 and 26. The family actively supports the food pantry needs of their church. They live on a small farm and have two horses, three dogs and one cat.
Hays works at the Lees College Campus in the lower level of Jackson Hall on Mondays and Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. She is available virtually other days. She can be contacted via email at jhays0014@kctcs.edu or by phone at 606 487-3225.
