Freshman Focus @ JCHS

This Thursday, September 16th, Johnson Central will be hosting our first open house. Midterm grades will be available on Tuesday evening and we will have teachers, counselors and administrators on campus to meet with parents and students. The open house will begin at 4 PM and finish at 6 PM. If this time is not convenient to you as a parent, please email your child's teachers and schedule a time for a phone call. We understand that scheduled events do not work for every schedule. Please know that our teachers want to communicate with you about your child's performance.

As we move beyond the halfway point of the grading period, Johnson Central wants each and every student to consider how they can connect with our school beyond the classroom. We understand that a connected student creates an invested student. Investment brings more excitement about attendance. With higher attendance, we always see higher levels of success in the classroom. We feel that our focus on creating a connected school truly sets our school apart from all others.

My name is Kevin Conley. I am a History/Social Studies Teacher at Johnson Central High School in Paintsville, KY. I have been married for 25 years and have two adult children. Dillon is 23 and Drew is 18. I am 46 years old and in my fourth year of teaching. No, that was not a typo and yes, you read that correctly. My wife is entering her 26th year of teaching. As she is finishing her career, I am just beginning my second career. I worked for 20 years in the family towing business. I attended college at EKU with the intent of becoming a History Teacher. However, I felt an obligation and sense of duty to help my father who started the company from nothing in 1969. So, I abandoned college and returned home to work with my father. My intention was to take classes locally at our community college. However, life happened. I got married, had children, and before I knew it, 5 years turned into 20. During the course of those 20 years, I had amassed somewhere between 60-70 college hours. When I turned 40, I decided that I did not want to continue on the path I was on and decided it was time to finish my Bachelors Degree and apply for the MAT. I did so at Morehead State University. Thanks to online course and degree completion options, I finished my degree in the Spring of 2018 and began the MAT Program at MSU in the Fall of the same year. I was fortunate enough that a Social Studies position became open at Johnson Central at the same time and was hired and entered the Option 6 Program at MSU. I obtained my Masters Degree in the Spring of 2020 and am currently pursuing my Rank I in Administration.

I love teaching in the classroom and enjoy the behind-the-scenes aspect of education. I am currently in charge of event coordination at Johnson Central. I serve as the Public Address Announcer for all sporting and public events at the school. I am responsible for organizing the events, communicating with and facilitating all media requests for our sporting events, and work with Todd Conley on advertising and fundraising efforts for our livestream events. I sincerely and thoroughly enjoy what I do. I believe that I have the ability to make an impact on students, not only through my presence in the classroom, but as a facilitator of a positive school culture and learning environment. Go Eagles!!!

Ilana Estep is a freshman at Johnson Central High School. She was elected to represent the freshman class as president. She’s a member of the Future Problem Solving Team as well as part of the Freshman and JV volleyball team. She plans to participate in several other activities like 4-H, tennis, and spirit club. In 8th grade, at the Johnson County Middle School she was selected to participate in the Summer 2021 Roger’s Explorers Program at Union College where she became interested in the engineering concept. This is why she decided to take Engineering I at the high school this year. As of right now, she expects to continue in engineering and move to pursue a career as an Imaging Engineer in the medical community. During the summer, she was also chosen to be a mentor in the Verizon Innovative Learning program where she encouraged young women to be in STEM and helped teach technology and design thinking skills.

In her free time Ilana likes to go hiking, spend time with friends and family, and watch old movies. She looks forward to experiencing new things here at the high school and can’t wait to see what is going to happen next.

Email: marc.shepherd@johnson.kyschools.us
Website: https://www.johnson.kyschools.us/
Location: 257 N Mayo Trail, Paintsville, KY, USA
Phone: 606-789-2500