The JC Breakfast Optimist Club met at 6:50 AM on August 25 at the Hampton Inn Meeting Room.
Taylor and Gigi Booth were the guest speakers and Dr. Mary Devin was a guest of the club.
Taylor is one of the most recent recipients of the Geary Community Schools Foundation’s Supporting A Diverse Staff: Loans for Aspiring Educators scholarship. She is a graduate of Junction City High School and currently a junior at Fort Hays State University majoring in Elementary Education. Taylor shared she was influenced by Jodie Testa and Amy Rather at Lincoln. Her goal is to graduate with a degree in education; be a licensed teacher; get hired to teach in USD 475 and then pursue licensure as a school psychologist. “Dr. Betsy Crawford, who is now working at Fort Hays State and formerly worked as a school psychologist at Junction City Middle School, has given advice.”
Taylor’s mother, Gigi Booth, told the Optimist Club members she “came from a military background and remembers some of her teachers at Morris Hill Elementary School. Carolyn Kimbrel and Anita Rogge were two of those teachers.” She also attended Ware and Eisenhower Elementary Schools and remembers Wanda McRae and Karen Malec. Gigi graduated from Junction City High School in 1998 and has since worked as a para educator in USD 475; earned two Bachelor’s Degrees; two Master’s Degrees is a licensed teacher; licensed as a Library Media Specialist and school administrator; was the head coach of the JCHS volleyball program; and is currently the Principal at Washington Elementary School.
Both Taylor and Gigi stated that they “want to give back to the community that has meant so much to them.” Gigi added that her “father, a military man felt the same way.”